


Cherry Blossom Flames

by WingedLadyColette



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Founding of Konoha, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-03-19 19:09:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 106,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3621003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingedLadyColette/pseuds/WingedLadyColette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A seven year old amnesiac awoke in a stream, being rescued by two brothers. MadaraxSakura</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolog

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Yes, another story, sorry! But I really like this idea! Sorry about the OOCness and this is slightly AU, so not all the events are going to line up, so... yeah. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing!
> 
> Warnings: Child death, death and possibly language.
> 
> Word Count: 5,278

"Hey!"

"Hey! Wake up!

"Brother, go get mother!"

"But I-"

"She may need help. Now go!"

Thudding sound that retreats away rouses the girl from her half lucid blackness.

Her eyes open, revealing two large light green orbs, looking up at the swirling flower peddles falling from the beautiful tree above her. Her mind is foggy, yet somewhere in that fog, she can see something. A memory of nothing, but a pair of lips. So close to them, she must have looked at them with great intensity, for they come in great detail. She has no way of knowing if they belong to a man's face or a woman's, but she sees them in her mind so well. They are saying something, but she doesn't know what. Over and over again, they say something.

"Hey!" A boy with dark brown hair that frames his face and large dark brown eyes. "Are you okay?" She sits up slowly, feeling weighed down heavily by something. The thin white dress around her body is soaked and clings to her tiny frame like a second skin. "Hey, careful now! Take it slowly!"

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her to her feet, accepting her weight against him. If she had to guess, he was a few years older than her. He's about almost two heads taller than her and is easily able to hold her weight.

She leans against him, feeling his warmth seep into her.

"Hey," the boy says, adjusting his grip on her. "My name is Hashirama. Who are you?"

She looks up at the kind eyed boy, opening her mouth, but no noise came out. She didn't know who she was and how to say that. She just stared up at him, shaking because of the cold.

"Can you talk?" Hashirama asks, eyebrows pulling together. "Do you know who you are? How did you get here?" She didn't know how to answer, let alone what the answer was. She just looked up at him with her mouth hanging open and shaking. "You're freezing," Hashirama says after a few minutes of silence as the two of them just stared at each other. He smiles faintly, holding her closer. "How did you end up in the river?"

She shakes her head, finally closing her mouth. She leans in closer to the taller boy, closing her eyes, feeling exhausted. She manages to lift her heavy hands and wrap them around the boy - Hashirama - and starts to fall asleep, standing there. She can feel one of his arms unravel from around her, pushing some of her hair aside and mumbling something about a wound on her head.

"Brother!" A voice behind her calls.

"Tobi, mother," Hashirama says. "Come here. This girl is hurt and she can't speak."

"Is she an enemy," the other boy - Tobi - says wearily. She feels the hands around her tighten a bit.

"Shut up, Tobi, she's hurt!" Hashirama says, gripping her tightly and putting himself a bit between them with a sound of warning. "Mother, we have to help her. She's freezing and soaking wet. We have to help her. Mother, please."

She feels a presence at her back and larger, thin hands rest against her forehead, pressing hard for a moment. The hand moves to the side of her face and then pushes some hair around, gently probing for something. The little girl hisses in pain and buries her head closer to Hashirama, wishing she could just absorb more of his warmth and curses everything that is trying to deny her that.

"Poor girl," the woman says, running her hand through the little girl's hair. "You're right, Hashirama, she's definitely not an Uchiha, but as for if she's an enemy, that is for us to find out for later."

"How old do you think she is?" Hashirama asks as the woman keeps running her fingers through the girl's hair, looking at her roots closely.

"I'm not sure," the woman says, "six or seven, perhaps? Do you know, sweetheart?" She turns the girl around by the shoulders to make her look at the older woman. "Do you have any idea who we are?" The little girl shakes her head. None of them look familiar. Not the beautiful long, white haired woman with large red eyes. Not the little boy, younger than Hashirama by about two or three years but probably older than she is, but a carbon copy of the woman and not Hashirama. None of them seem familiar to her. She doesn't seem familiar to herself.

"Do you know who you are?" the woman asks, tilting her head to the side. The little girl shakes her head, leaning back against Hashirama, wanting to go to sleep. Her body is heavy and cold.

"What will we do, mother?" the other boy - Tobi - asks, looking at the little girl with narrowed eyes. "Father will not approve."

The woman tilts her head a little bit more, before reaching out and picking the little girl up and cradling the small child in her arms. "You're soaking wet, little blossom." A pause, then, "I'm not sure, sweetie. We will just have to talk to him, won't we?"

"Yeah!" Hashirama says, stepping closer. "If we ask nicely, maybe he'll let us keep her!"

"She's a person, not a dog," the woman says softly, petting down Sakura's hair. "But perhaps you're right, Hashirama. Let us go see."

The pink haired girl curls tightly into the older woman's arms, slipping into an easy slumber.

 

"Where did you find it?" A sharp voice pulled the small girl from her slumber. She moved to sit up but a hand on her head kept her in place. Green eyes look over at the white haired boy with narrow red eyes, looking down at her. He shakes his head, making a shushing motion with his hand when she opened her mouth to make an incoherent noise before looking forward.

"Butsuma!" The elegant white haired woman says, eyes wide. "Don't call her that!"

"Where?" the man - Butsuma - says, eyes flickering down to the third person in the conversation. "Hashirama?"

Hashirama's hands curl into fists and he lifts his chin, as if trying to make himself look bigger as he stared up into the eyes of the man. "Tobirama and I found her washed up on the riverbed. She's so little, father, she doesn't know anything."

"Can you read minds now, Hashirama? Spectacular," Butsuma says stiffly, not sounding all that amazed. "Perhaps you should be part of the interrogation unit, rather than be in the battle front."

Hashirama's hand clenched into tighter fists, turning a little to look away, as if trying to control his temper.

"Butsuma," the woman says, stepping between Hashirama and the man, "I'll watch over her. If she seems to be dangerous I'll take care of her myself. Okay?" She steps closer, reaching out for his hands.

"Is this because of Kawarama? This girl is no replacement for our son!" There is a deathly silence that follows. The woman's shoulders tense up as she stares at the man in front of her. The angry snarl on his face molds into a look of surprise before adapting a grim expression. "Dallia, I didn't mean-"

"No," the white haired woman - Dallia - says sharply, holding up her hand to silence him. "You don't get to say that to me, Butsuma. I told you. I told you he was too young and you sent him out there anyway! And on top of that, you slapped Hashirama? And told Itama not to cry because he lost his little brother? What's next, are you going to tell me not to cry? I lost my baby! My little boy to your war. Have you no heart?" Her voice is shaking, arms crossing her chest and clenching her kimono tightly, hands trembling.

Kawarama? The pink haired girl had to wonder who that was and why that name caused the seemingly very kind white haired woman suddenly so mean. No, angry was the better word.

She appears to be trying to be strong but suddenly puts a hand to her chest as if suddenly pained. The look of anger on Butsuma's face vanishes immediately as he reaches out toward her, worried. She pulls away before he can touch her, seemingly willing to uphold her resolve. She stares at him with slightly pained red eyes before relaxing. Whatever was hurting her, the pink haired girl notes, must have vanished again.

"Dallia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Butsuma says softly, before his eyes and face harden again. "And this isn't my war. The Uchiha started it when they decided to conquer the land! But they aren't who we are talking about right now, we are talking about that girl," he continues coldly, glancing over at the small pink haired girl, who's looking up at him from behind Tobirama with big green eyes. "We know nothing about her. She could be a spy."

"Father," Hashirama says, stepping around the woman, his mother, to look up at the narrow eyed man, "I don't think so. Tobi and I going to lake was spur of the moment. There is no way that she could have planned it. If I hadn't fished her out of the water, she would have floated further down stream, away from camp. And she was unconscious."

"It all seems too coincidental to me," Butsuma huffs, glaring down at the girl.

Dallia, having calmed down, reaches out and puts a hand on her husband's arm, smiling sadly into his eyes. "She isn't here to replace my little Kawarama, Butsuma, she here because she needs help. If we find her parents, we will return her to them, and if not..." she hesitates, looking down at Hashirama, reaching out and petting his wild brown hair away from his big brown eyes before looking back at Butsuma. "And if not, is it wrong to try and heal with her help?"

"I don't want her here," Butsuma says simply, shaking his head, but he didn't sound angry anymore.

"I know," Dallia says, cupping his face and looking up into his eyes. "Please?"

Butsuma sighs, glancing over at the pink haired girl with a hard look on his face. He stares at her for a long moment before turning back to the eloquent white haired woman. "You may do as you wish, Dallia. She is your responsibility."

Dallia nods, smiling brightly.

"Isn't this great!" Another boy next to the door, who was probably waiting there for the fighting to stop, runs over to the pink haired girl, dropping down at the edge of the bed in front of the girl. "You can stay with us." He grins. One half of his hair is white while the other half is brown. Even the respected eyebrows on the either side matched the strange hair colors. "Isn't this great, Tobirama?" He looks over at the older boy with big brown eyes.

Tobirama finally removes his hand from the little girl's head. "Sure..." he sighs and looks away.

Hashirama drops down next to the two hair toned boy and grins broadly up at the pink haired girl. "It's great, Itama. Now what are we going to call her?"

"Pink!" Itama says, looking between Hashirama and Tobirama. "You know, like her hair!"

"We know why you picked that, Itama," Tobirama groans, looking back over at him with narrowed eyes. "And it's a stupid name."

Itama glares up at the middle boy. "Shut up, Tobirama! You don't have to be mean! And it's not a stupid name!"

Tobirama narrows his red eyes. "It is stupid, Itama, it's the same as calling you White-Brown. Now that's even more stupid! Besides, she's a human being, not a dog. Let her have some dignity, shall we?"

Itama pouts. "Fine!" A glare at the older boy, and then he mumbles, "Such proper language, spend enough time with father?" Tobirama scowls down at his younger brother.

"Come on, guys," Hashirama says, putting his hands on Itama's shoulders, acting as a mediator as the pink haired amnesiac sat up slowly. "I've got a great idea, how about Pinkrama?" He smiles broadly, staring at the two of them with wide eyes and an opened mouth, waiting for their two responses.

Dallia, who was still standing next to a rolling eyed Butsuma, laughs softly, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Stupid Hashirama!" Tobirama and Itama yell in unison. Hashirama and the pink haired girl both jump at the sudden noise. The pink haired girl settles down, looking between them confused while Hashirama pouts, falling backward onto the floor in a bout of depression.

"You guys don't have to be so mean about it," Hashirama mutters before sitting and looking over his shoulder at his parents. "What do you think, mother?"

Dallia pulls away from Butsuma and walks over to the bed. She sits down were Sakura's head was only minutes before and reaches out to grab a stand of short, shoulder length pink hair, twirling it around with her fingers. She hums quietly to herself in thought. She looks down at the boys. "How about the name of a flower? Pretty, like her."

All three heads bobble up and down.

"What are some good flower names?" Dallia asks.

"Hana?" Hashirama asks.

"Tsubaki?" Itama guesses.

Tobirama shakes his head to both of them. "I don't like either of those, but I don't know any other flower names."

Dallia hums again, running a hand through the little girl's hair in thought. The pink haired girl closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling of gentle nails massaging her scalp even if there was a bandage wrapped around her head, blocking some of the minstrations.

"Hey Mother," Itama says, putting a hand on her knee to get her attention.

"Yes, Itama?" she asks, looking down at her now youngest son with loving eyes.

"Can we keep something with her name the same as ours? Since we're family now? You know, the 'ma' at the end of all of our names?" Itama asks with big eyes. "You know, so she feels more like family?"

Butsuma sighs, but one look from Dallia silences anything he probably would have said. Once she's sure he won't say anything, Dallia looks back down at Itama with kind red eyes. "Sure, but I don't have a 'ma' to my name. Just an 'a'."

Itama makes a face at that, looking around with his eyebrows pulled together in thought, making a humming noise under his breath. Hashirama rubs his chin in contemplation before looking up at Dallia and suggesting, "How about just the 'a'? All the men of our family is 'ma' and all the women can be just 'a'." He smiles kindly up at the pink haired girl. "So all we need is a name with just an 'a' at the end."

Dallia smiles, nodding. "Just 'a' then." She looks around the room at nothing in particular, then, a smile crosses her face as she looks down at her boys and then into the green eyes of the little girl. "I just thought of the perfect name for you. Do you want to hear it?"

She nods, silently wishing that Dallia would continue rubbing her scalp. It felt nice.

"Sakura," Dallia says, running her hands through the pretty pink hair, making the little girl smile at getting what she wanted.

"Oh!" Hashirama says, eyes wide. "I like it!"

"I do too," Itama says, smiling brightly.

Tobirama nods, but says nothing. He glances up to see what his father thinks, but the tall, dark haired man is gone.

 

A pained wail pulled Sakura from her herb gathering. She turned around in the wide open field to find the source of the scream. Up on a hill about ten feet away from Sakura was her new mother, Dallia. She was half fallen into the arms of a man she knew to be her new uncle Kotama. The second oldest brother in her new father's family. Dallia clings to Kotama, sobbing uncontrollably. He's the only thing holding her up.

It's been almost a year since Sakura became a Senju and joined the main family, and while people still gave her weird looks but have managed to get used to her being there and have even let her join the other little girls her age, seven, they had decided about a week after she was brought into the family. Her birthday is coming up, in March, they decided. When her namesake would bloom. Now she was eight, same age as her would-be brother Kawarama. Itama is nine, Tobirama is eleven and Hashirama is thirteen.

Sakura climbs to her feet and runs up the hill to her new mother. Sakura slows down, walking up to Dallia and reaching out to touch her kimono gently. Dallia, face red and streaking with tears, reaches out and grabs Sakura. She falls to her knees and pulls Sakura to her. Dallia holds Sakura to her tight, sobbing loudly and burying her face into Sakura's hair.

"Itama!" Dallia cries, cradling Sakura to her like a lifeline. "Not my baby! Not my Itama!"

Other women, mother's who know exactly what Dallia is going through, converge on her location, allowing their presence to be of comfort to the distraught mother. Sakura didn't know if it helped at all. In this situation, there is nothing that anyone could do that would help Dallia just short of bringing her sons back to life. Yes, Sakura knew, by the distraught cries and the furious trembling that Itama, the sweet, duo colored haired brother, was gone.

Sakura knew it at the time. She didn't know how she knew, just that she did. She didn't need Dallia whispering that he couldn't be gone to know that he was.

Sakura didn't move. Didn't say anything. She just sat in Dallia's lap, with little arms wrapped around the weeping woman as much as she could and relax in her hold, letting the woman who took her in and loved her like one of her own wet her mid-back length pink hair with her sorrowful tears.

The pink haired girl didn't know how to express how she felt about Itama being gone. She couldn't cry at that moment. In her mind, it somehow took away from Dallia's pain. And this was her time to cry and express her pain. Sakura wasn't going to do anything that could get in the way. She buries her head into Dallia's chest and listened to her cry.

"I'm sorry, mama," Sakura whispers, not knowing what else to say. She said it so quietly she didn't know if Dallia heard her or not, but the older woman's grip on her did tighten.

 

Two weeks after Itama's funeral, Sakura followed Hashirama. She had noticed him slipping away for a while now when he was suppose to be watching her. Tobirama and Hashirama took turns looking after her. Butsuma didn't want her being alone. The man didn't love her like a father would love his daughter, but she had become part of the family. And he had little faith in her. She was good at gathering things and her memory was great, but as he got to know her, he became less and less concerned about her possibly being a spy.

Sakura peaks out from behind a tree to look at her eldest brother and his dark haired friend sitting by the river. They were both skipping rocks and talking quietly to each other. Sakura steps out into the open and tilts her head, waiting for them to notice her. As she expected, about ten seconds later, the black haired boy whipped around, jumping to his feet.

"Who's there?" The boy calls, hands poised in front of his body ready to strike. Pitch black eyes land on her right away, at first in warning, and then they melt into a look of confusion.

Hashirama jumps up too and turns around, eyes locking onto Sakura too. "Oh no!" Hashirama closes the distance between them quickly, putting his hands lightly on Sakura's shoulders. "You shouldn't have followed me, imouto. Go on home now," Hashirama says, waving his hand for her to go before walking back to the river to sit down. "Sorry, Madara, that's my little sister."

Madara, still staring at Sakura, lowers back to his spot. He looks at Hashirama with wide black eyes. "Your sister? I didn't know that you had one."

"We're not related by blood," Hashirama says, looking over at Sakura, who hadn't moved from where she was standing, despite his words. "She joined our family last year. If you promise not to tell father about me meeting with Madara, I'll let you sit on my lap and hang out with us, okay?"

Sakura nods, a slow smile crossing her lips as she walks over to him. Hashirama holds open his hands and Sakura easily slips into his arms. Sakura sits sideways on his lap, facing a weary eyed Madara. After a long moment of contemplation before leaning forward and lightly tapping Madara on the nose with her pointer finger, murmuring an airy, "Boop" before pulling back to relax in his arms.

Madara stares at her blankly, looking between Sakura and Hashirama, raising an eyebrow. "Is your sister...?"

Hashirama looks at her. "Simple? People always say that, but she's not, right?" Hashirama grins down at Sakura, who smiles back up at him.

Sakura nods her head and leans her head against Hashirama's shoulder.

Madara suddenly looks thoughtful. "How do you know that? If people say..." Madara shrugs his shoulders. "I mean, how do you know she's not...?"

"Mother says Sakura is an old soul. Even though she look so small, she's actually really wise and knows lots of things. She remembers things easily and has great intuition, ain't that right, little sister?" Hashirama asks, teasingly. Sakura nods. "They only say that stuff about her because she doesn't talk. Just says easy things because she doesn't want to be silent all the time."

"Can you says something?" Madara asks Sakura, tilting his head to the side.

Sakura nods again, leaning forward once more and lightly poking the tip of Madara's nose and makes the same airy, "Boop" before retreating again and relaxing back in Hashirama's grip, smiling contently.

Hashirama laughs while Madara smiles a bit. "Cute," the darker haired boy murmurs. "How old is she?"

"She'll be eight in about a week, right? March 28th," Hashirama says proudly, as if he was the one that's going to have a birthday in about a week.

"What's your name?" Madara asks.

Sakura tilts her head to the side, in thought. Then, she crawls out of Hashirama' lap and wades into the water, not minding her green kimono getting all wet.

"Water walk!" Hashirama calls out to her. "Mom will be mad that you got your kimono all dirty!"

Sakura pauses, looking over her shoulder at Madara and Hashirama. She stares at them for a long moment, then tilts her head to the side cutely. "Ah?"

Hashirama crosses his arms, giving the little pink haired girl a strict look. "Don't look at me like that, little missy! Water walk."

Sakura obeys, lifting her right foot out of the water and stepping onto the water's surface before pulling out her other foot and stepping up onto the surface as well. She pauses a moment to see Hashirama nod in approval before continuing to the other side of the river and disappearing into the trees beyond, onto to return a few minutes later and walk across the water back to the side with the two boys. She drops to her knees in front of Madara and holds out her open hand to him, palm facing up.

Madara peaks down at the small pink flower in her hand. "Uh, Hana?"

Sakura shakes her head, smiling broadly.

"Oh, uh, Sakura?" Madara asks.

Sakura nods briskly. She put the flower behind Madara's ear before standing up and turning back toward the water. She walks out into the middle of it, not seeming to mind the moving water beneath her. She dips her big toe on her right foot into the water before pulling it back out and staring down at the fish swimming around beneath her.

"Isn't she the cutest?" Hashirama gushes, grinning broadly at his little sister.

Madara tilts his head to the side, reaching up to lightly touch the little flower behind his ear. "Uh, sure..."

Sakura jolts suddenly, as if zapped and turns to look over at Hashirama and Madara. Her eyes drift up, past them. "Tobi," she says softly. Hashirama, who was staring at her blankly immediately jumps to his feet and spins around. Stepping out from behind one of the many trees is none other than the boy in question. His eyes locked on a tense Madara, who also jumped onto his feet.

"Uchiha," Tobirama hisses, spinning around on his heel and racing off.

"No, Tobirama, wait!" Hashirama calls after, taking a few steps after his little brother, hand outstretched.

Sakura's eyebrows pull together in worry, walking to the edge of the water.

"'Uchiha'?" Madara murmurs, eyes wide. He glances over at Hashirama's back a look of betrayal flickering across his face, then over at Sakura, black eyes sad and scared. He steps away from Hashirama.

The brown haired boy catches the movement and turns to him. "Wait, Madara! It's okay! This doesn't change anything!"

Madara shakes his head when the other boy tries to reach out for him. "No," Madara says softly, still retreating and shaking his head. "No, this changes everything."

"No," Hashirama says desperately, taking a hesitant step after the black haired boy. "Listen to me, Madara, it doesn't have to change anything! We can still make our shared dream a reality!"

"'Shared dream'?" Madara hisses, face contorting into a look of rage. "Don't play me as a fool, Senju!" With that, he spins around and runs off, disappearing into the woods.

"No, Madara, wait, please!" Hashiram takes a few steps after him but then pulls back, looking pained. He shakes himself, gritting his teeth before holding out a hand to Sakura, eyes narrowed. "Sakura, come on. We have to get home, climb onto my back. We have to try and catch up with Tobirama."

Sakura obeyed, climbing onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist, as much as she can while wearing her kimono, and locks her hands onto his shoulders. Hashirama quickly adjusts her weight on his back before taking off into the forest after Tobirama.

Hashirama was doubly punished. One, and the most sever, because he was meeting up with an Uchiha boy. And second because he took Sakura with him to do so. Neither of them mentioned that Sakura found her way to him herself. Butsuma was angry because Sakura has no control of herself and may have said or insinuated something important about the Senju and their defenses or plans that would somehow give the Uchiha an upper hand.

"Sakura hardly speaks, father," Hashirama says softly, avoiding his gaze. "She wouldn't have said anything."

Butsuma closes the three feet between them and slams Hashirama hard across the face, sending the boy to the ground.

"Hashirama!" Sakura calls out softly, trying to go to her older brother but Tobirama's hands on her shoulders hold her in place.

"Father!" Tobirama calls out too, holding Sakura close, less she come between Hashirama and Butsuma and becomes the center of his father's newfound rage. "Isn't that a bit too far?"

"Hashirama!" Sakura calls out again, weakly trying to pull away from Tobirama. "Hashirama! Hashirama!"

"I'm okay, Sakura," Hashirama says, grunting in pain as he pulls himself to his feet. He reaches a hand up to his stinging cheek, flinching in pain, before giving his father a level eyed look, holding his ground. "Don't cry, okay?"

Sakura whimpers Hashirama's name over and over again softly until Butsuma could have no more of it.

"Enough!" Butsuma snaps, turning his glare toward the pink haired girl. "I'm fed up with your crying, girl!" Both her and Tobirama jump at becoming the Senju patriarch's sudden rage. Sakura backs up a bit into Tobirama, fearfully.

"Father!" Hashirama says sharply, putting himself between his father and younger siblings. "You can't talk to Sakura like that!"

"I can do as I like," Butsuma snarls, glaring down at Hashirama. "I'm-"

"Lord Butsuma!" A Senju woman comes running up to them, she doubles over, out of breath. "Lord Butsuma, come quick! It's Lady Dallia! She's collapsed and isn't responding!" All four turn toward her in shock. His rage forgotten, Butsuma races off toward their home, all three children at his heels.

 

Three months later, Dallia died. Sakura remembered overhearing two of the woman that usually took care of Dallia before her passing that the Senju matriarch had a weak body. Ever since she was young she was easily sickened and spent most of her life in bed. Butsuma fell in love with her and against the wishes of the clan elders, he married her. There was no guarantee that she could ever carry any children to term and each of her four children left her bedridden for most of the time. The youngest brother, Kawarama, was especially difficult but once they made it through it, Dallia and Butsuma agreed to have no more for her health.

The pain of losing two of her children along with having to constantly keep moving because of the Uchiha's sudden advancement had put too much strain on Dallia's body. She collapsed one day out of the blue and quickly degraded after that. Three months later, she was gone.

This time, Sakura couldn't contain herself. The woman who had taken her in, insisted that she be called Mama, was gone. She cried and cried for days, unable to stop, alongside Hashirama and Tobirama.

After Dallia died, Butsuma finally shut down. He cared for nothing anymore other than to kill all the Uchiha. He took Hashirama and Tobirama to the front lines with him and a few years passed and he never came back. Even when he came back for a short reprieve, he thought only of returning to the front line. One of the more major battles against the Uchiha claimed his life.

By that time, Hashirama was sixteen years old and able to take over the clan immediately.

Butsuma's funeral was a solemn one and none of his three orphaned children cried for him. But they did look on remorsefully, wishing that things could have been different. But it was too late. The man was already gone.

The end of Butsuma's life was the beginning of Hashirama's reign and great changes for the Senju clan. It was the beginning of the end of Sengoku Jidai.


	2. Enlisted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Sorry for the wait! I hope the time skips aren't too confusing! They'll stop soon, I promise! The previous chapter, is currently holding the title for the most comments I'd ever gotten on the first chapter! So, thank you everyone! I love hearing what you all have to say! There is a little bit I was unhappy with in this chapter, but we'll have to see. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing!
> 
> Warnings: Possibly language and a bit of descriptive wounds.
> 
> Word Count: 6,473

She didn't know they were that close.

Sakura, seven years into Hashirama's reign as Senju clan leader, joined the war and at fifteen, she traveled too close to Hashirama and Madara's battle. Not intentional at all. She was looking for some herbs to bring back to the medical tents, as has became her job in the war, and went further out of her way than she meant to, but she only wanted the best for her injured clansmen. Since her big brother became clan leader, Sakura had become a permanent fixture around the two brothers. Hashirama adored Sakura and gave her everything and she was the only one that could hang all over Tobirama and call him "Tobi" other than Hashirama.

The pink haired girl really felt at home with her family, as they warmed up to her. Everyone gave Sakura easy tasks, following in Butsuma's line of thinking - that she was a slow child that needed pampering - and Hashirama and Tobirama let it happen. Sakura didn't mind, and in a way enjoyed knowing that people had a little more of loose lips around her. Tobirama also likes that. He likes that Sakura can relay possibly dangerous thing to them due to other's loose lips. Hashirama just likes that people treat Sakura really nice.

Sakura was walking over a fast moving river. It was moving too fast for her to safely walk on the water and she couldn't jump far enough to clear it, but luckily a fallen over tree is able to make a bridge over the river. Sakura easily walks across the make-shift bridge, already seeing the herbs that she needs. She didn't know that Hashirama and Madara's had somehow worked it's way so close. They must have paused to talk or catch their breath, Sakura didn't know. All she knew was one moment, she was picking the herbs she needed and returning half way across the bridge, and the next moment a blazing hot fireball is flying passed her head, singeing some of her hair.

Her balance is thrown off as the fireball lands in the water in front of her, producing some steam. Sakura lets out a scream of surprise, wobbling back in forth on the fallen trunk trying to regain her footing when a second fireball hits the trunk on the side of the river that she needs to get to, lighting it up immediately. The fire, burning so hot it easily eats through the wood of the tree trunk.

The tree cracks and breaks into two, throwing Sakura into the water. Her scream is cut off by water filling her lungs. She desperately tries to kick herself up to the surface as the water starts to carry her downstream. She manages to half swallow a breath of air before she's pulled under again. Her back slams against a rock and she slides along it before being carried on. Sakura flails around, her heavy kimono pulling her along.

She can't see anything, just water and bubbles swirling around her as she desperately kicks herself to the surface, legs burning at the exertion. She breaks the water's surface again and takes a gasping breath that her burning lungs desperately needs. Through bleary eyes, just seconds before she's pulled under again, she spots approaching figures. She makes as big of motions as she can, hoping that whoever it is can see her.

She hears something hit the water. It feels like forever, but it was probably only a couple of seconds, before something wraps around her waist and starts pulling her to the surface, but her heavy kimono starts weighing both of them down. Sakura can feel something hard against her back - armor, her mind supplies her - that probably assist in weighing them down.

Air running thin, Sakura's vision begins to blacken. Her kicks and waving arms slowing down. He must have realized that her kimono was going to be the death of her, because before she blacked out, her kimono was being cut off of her.

She felt the painful pressure on her chest and then lips on her own, breathing deeply into her. Her consciousness started to pull away again, back into numbness, before more pressure on her chest and the lips on hers again pulls her completely into consciousness, forcing her to spit up water trapped in her lungs. She rolled onto her side, coughing painfully. Her lung feel like they are on fire. Someone is gently rubbing her back as she coughs.

Sakura looks around bleary eyed to see red armor a few feet in front of her. She looks up the dark pants to see a man with long, soaked black hair, wringing out his long sleeved, dark shirt. Toned, white back facing her. His muscles rippling along his shoulders as he tries to dry his shirt. His black hair is pressed tightly against his skin, making it look like the blackest ink on the whitest parchment.

"Sakura," Hashirama says, turning Sakura around so that she can lay back down. He quickly removes his own armor and then his own dark, slightly damp shirt and drapes it across Sakura's body. "Are you okay now?"

The pink haired girl coughs lightly before looking down at her body. Most of her heavy kimono is cut away leaving the very last under-layer of her kimono that is paper thin and pure white, now very see through. She pulls Hashirama's shirt close to her chest, relishing in the warmth it offers. Even though the day was about average warmth for this time of year, the water was freezing cold. If Sakura looked over at her savior closely, she could see his skin bumping out into goose flesh, similar to Sakura's own skin.

"Sakura," Hashirama says, putting a hand on the left side of her jaw and turning her face toward him, "are you okay?"

Sakura nods, coughing lightly again.

"What are you doing all the way out here, Sakura? It's dangerous," Hashirama says softly, pushing some of her wet pink hair off of her face.

Sakura holds us her right hand, a few of the herbs she picked somehow still clenched in her small hand. Hashirama looks at them curious, murmuring, "infection" under his breath before pushing his long brown hair over his shoulder, looking down at Sakura's face. "What happened? You're usually more careful than that. How did you fall into the water."

"Fireball," Sakura says and in the corner of her eye, she sees the back of her savior flinch.

Hashirama's eyes soften, flickering up to Madara, who still has yet to turn to face them, before looking back at Sakura. "Did a fireball hit you? Are you burned anywhere?"

"Burned the log," Sakura says, looking up river to the chunk of wood on the opposite side of the river burning the wood to ash. "And my hand," Sakura says, holding up her left hand. Small burns from stray embers that caught her before she hit the water. The skin is already starting to turn an angry red.

"Those can be fixed," Hashirama says softly.

Sakura turns her head to look over at the back of her savior, watching as he now wrings out his long inky black hair, shaking it like a stray dog, before glancing over at her, revealing his face for the first time. Green eyes widen slightly in recognition. Her lips part and a soft, "Madara," leaves her.

Madara's eyes narrow, looking a mixture of angry, annoyed and ashamed. "How bad are your burns?" He asks, looking at the ground a foot above Sakura's head. She doesn't respond, just stares at him with big eyes. She can feel a vine slithering around her hand and began to heal it. Madara's eyes narrow more. "It was foolish of you to be out here. You're lucky we heard you scream."

"Thank you," Sakura says softly, making Madara flinch again, as if her words hurt him rather that make him feel better. "Thank you for saving me."

"It's nothing," Madara says simply, still avoiding eye contact.

"When you have no where else to turn and you're panicking, I can help you," Sakura says softly. Madara turns to look at her now, for the first time. His thin black eyebrows pull together tightly, not seeming to understand.

Hashirama helps Sakura stand up and pull his shirt on over her head. While large and loose on Hashirama, was even larger and looser on Sakura. It dangles over her knees, looking strange with her white further most under layer of her kimono.

"Why would I ever need that?" Madara asks sharply, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

Sakura tilts her head, looking up at the sky, wondering what this aching feeling in her chest was. Sometimes, she just knew things. Gut feelings that don't really make sense until it's already happening. As useless as it seems to Sakura, she does enjoy the minor bit of foresight. Not that it does too much good.

"Go back now, Sakura," Hashirama says, straightening up. "I think now that things have settled down, perhaps we can talk, Madara?"

Madara glares at him, dark circles around his eyes enhanced by the sun at his back, making his eyes bleed red. "I have nothing to say. Innocents shouldn't be caught in our dispute more than they already are. I made a mistake and I own up to it. Our battle is not over."

Hashirama sighs, unhappily. "Very well, Madara. Either way, thank you for saving my sister." He looks back at Sakura. "Now return home, and be much more careful about where you tread."

Sakura nods, watching a wood clone take shape next to her. She lets the clone pick her up and leap across the river and back in the direction of their camp. In the distance, she can hear the battle between Hashirama and Madara start up again. Normally, Hashirama looks unhappy about having to fight his childhood friend, especially since it was all a misunderstanding, but Hashirama's wood clone has a light smile on his face, pleased about something.

The clone noticed Sakura's inquisitive look and says, "I'm happy that he hasn't changed at all. We heard a girl's scream he immediately went rushing to the rescue. It's so like him, I'm just happy." He beams. "I'm upset that you nearly died today," he quickly amends. Sakura nods slowly in understanding. "But," he continues, looking on ahead, "I'm happy that there is still a chance that we can still have our peace."

Sakura digs her face into the clone's neck, not minding that it wasn't her real brother. Even though she knows it's made of wood, the skin is warm and smooth. "Tobi?" She asks softly, closing her eyes.

"He's okay," Hashirama says. "He's in the trees, battling Izuna Uchiha. I can sense both of their lifeforces. They are both battling strong." The clone suddenly stops. "Here, Sakura. Those herbs are no good anymore. There is more this way."

 

It had been almost six months since the day she fell into the river and now Sakura stared out over the village from on top the hill that the house she shares with her brothers sits on. One of her cousins, a girl named Momo, who is about Sakura's age. She's looking around at the peaceful village bustling with women and children, feeling Momo braiding her hair with deft fingers, intertwining lots of flowers into it.

"I just love your pretty pink hair, Sakura-sama. It's so soft and silky," Momo says softly, tying off the end of the braid at Sakura's waist with a forest green ribbon that matches her kimono.

Sakura doesn't respond, just watches a butterfly flap it's wings around her head, a faint smile on her lips.

"Sakura," Tobirama's voice pulls the pink haired girl from her thoughtless staring.

Momo bows her head respectfully. "Tobirama-sama."

"Momo, allow me to speak to Sakura alone," Tobirama orders, decked out in his battle attire. Sakura frowned at this as Momo obeyed, hopping to her feet and leaving, walking back to the village. There had been a bit of a pause in the war, tragedy struck. Or perhaps tragedy is going by it's other name, Tobirama. In the last battle, Tobirama managed to deal great damage to Izuna Uchiha. A crippling blow, people have whispered. The Senju council has been pushing Hashirama into attacking first while Madara is off the main battle front caring for Izuna, but Hashirama refuses.

"I want peace," he insisted, "and kicking them when they're down isn't going to inspire that. So, no."

"Tobi?" Sakura says softly, pulling herself from her memory.

Tobirama steps up to her, holding out a hand for her to take. She does and he pulls her to her feet. Without letting go of her hand, mostly because in her long kimono, she'll trip and roll all the way down to the rest of the village, he leads her toward the far side of the village with a small group of shinobi, including Hashirama, wait.

As the two draw near, Tobirama finally speaks, "Hashirama made a deal with Madara."

Sakura looks up at him inquisitively, stumbling slightly and squeezing his hand tightly to steady herself. "Deal..." she says softly.

"Yeah, apparently the wound I inflicted onto Izuna isn't healing and none of the Uchiha healers can do anything. He's taking you up on your offer. Desperate, I suppose," Tobirama says coyly, narrowing his eyes. "Hashirama believes this was what you were referring to and made a deal that if you can somehow magically fix whatever is wrong with Izuna, the Uchiha will sign the peace treaty."

Sakura tilts her head. "You don't want that?"

Tobirama sighs, shaking his head. "I don't like that we'll be in the heart of the Uchiha compound with no real guarantee that they will keep their word. That, and you're no medical shinobi. I don't know what Hashirama is thinking."

"About peace," Sakura supplies, looking over at her eldest brother, who was looking toward five Uchiha, all decked out in their battle armor, waiting anxiously in front of the Senju compound. They were to be the Senju escort to the Uchiha compound and they looked grossly out of place. And judging by their shifty eyes and tense muscles, they felt like they were too.

Tobirama rolls his eyes. "Naturally. That seems to be filling his head a lot lately. I suppose I can't blame him," the white haired man says that last part softly. More for his own ears rather than Sakura's so she acts like she didn't hear him.

Once they get to the group of Senju waiting for them, seven members, including Hashirama. Sakura and Tobirama make nine. Hashirama basically recounts what Tobirama told Sakura before saying, "Do you think you can do this?"

Sakura shrugs her shoulders.

"That's inspiring," the eldest Senju there, their uncle Kotama mutters, running a hand through his graying dark hair.

Hashirama laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Atta girl, Sakura, don't make empty promises!"

That earns droll from all the other Senju excluding Sakura, and they all mutter, "Hashirama-sama..." while Tobirama mutters, "Brother..." and shake all their heads. Sakura smiles and offers her eldest brother a thumbs up, which he returns.

Toka shakes her head and turns to Sakura, clothes in her arms. "Sakura-sama, let us quickly change you into more appropriate traveling attire, shall we?" Sakura nods, and follows after Toka to one of the nearby homes, knocking politely before walking inside.

A few minutes before they both reemerge. Sakura's kimono was exchanged for a red and green battle kimono that has no sleeves and only goes to her mid thigh with long tight black pants that are wrapped up at her ankles and long sleeves wrapped up around her wrists. Her hair is still pulled up in it's braid with the flowers weaved into it and her fringe left free. She has a shinobi pouch hooked onto the back right side of her sash and a kunai pack tied around her right leg.

Sakura bounces to her brothers, twirling around in front of them, gesturing to herself and tilting her head. "Cute?" She asks.

Hashirama gushes, taking her hand and spinning her around. "So cute!" he says, brown eyes wide and bright. Prideful of having the cutest little sister. He looks her up and down. He fluffs up her bangs and twirls her long braid and spinning her around.

"Yes, very," Tobirama says dismissively before Hashirama can go on a tangent. "Perhaps we should get going now, brother?"

Hashirama sighs, letting Sakura's hands drop. "Yes, yes, Tobirama. You are right, as per usual." He turns to look around the group. "Are we all ready to leave now?" There are murmurs of agreement. So Hashirama turns toward the anxiously waiting Uchiha. "Alright, we are ready. Lead the way."

They couldn't have peeled out faster if they tried. Sakura lost them immediately in the trees. If Toka hadn't grabbed her arm and yanked her along, Sakura would have been left standing there stupefied.

Sakura is no shinobi. Tobirama and Hashirama dedicated a good portion of time in the last seven years training her so that she had some abilities, but they were mostly broad. She could walk on water and trees, she has great chakra control, but not a lot of chakra. She has great difficulty learning elemental ninjutsu. No matter what the jutsu was, any element, was very difficult to learn. She could learn any jutsu that wasn't elemental. Like genjutsu. She could learn genjutsu up the wazoo, of all levels, rivaling even those that Toka could dish out.

So, while she is experienced in the genjutsu aspect and she has more stamina than a normal non-shinobi, she easily fell behind the more experienced shinobi. Sakura didn't mind, she was content just watching their movements. They were all so fluid and each movement was elegant, like they were dancing. Sakura often got that feeling watching her family, especially her two brothers, training. Sakura could never move like that.

One of Sakura's cousins that came along, her sometimes-when-he's-in-the-village-bodyguard, Rei, that Hashirama insisted having on her and Tobirama seconded, falls back to be hopping from tree to tree by her side. She waggles her fingers at him when he falls into step with her. They travel two whole minutes in silence, watching as their clansmen slowly but surely, get further and further ahead of them.

"Perhaps the next thing we should work on is speed, eh, Sakura-sama?" Rei says, looking down at her.

Sakura looks passed all of their clansmen, to see Hashirama's long brown hair, that he let grow out after his father died. It was longer than Sakura's now. Whereas her was thick and layered, his was long and cut straight across with only his fringe, similar to Sakura's, that is a different length and stops at his jawline. Just as when they were kids, Tobirama kept his wild white hair "short and manageable" in his words.

Sakura can recall after Hashirama grew his hair out to his shoulders, he was debating on whether to cut it off again or let it grow out longer. He had turned to his two younger siblings for their opinion.

Sakura gave him a cute tilt of the head, then reached out and ran her fingers through his growing brown hair, giving him a happy smile and proceeded to start braiding the longer locks. After a moment of silence, Hashirama took that as her way of saying to let it keep growing, he turned to his brother for his opinion. As usual with Tobirama, his opinion is usually a bit of a hard pill to swallow.

"Grow it out or cut it off, I don't care," Tobirama says curtly. "But whatever you decide to do, don't go back to that stupid ass haircut you had as a kid." And that was that.

So, he grew his out long and Sakura likes it. Unlike her hair that is thick and uneven, his is so much easier to braid. Every time she braided Hashirama's hair, Tobirama would roll his eyes. Then Hashirama and Sakura would smile at each other like there was some sort of secret shared just between the two of them. Even though there was no words. But that was the relationship that the three of them had. Sakura never had much to say but when she did have things to say, her two brothers could easily hear her words even when she said nothing at all.

Sakura pulls herself from her mind, looking over at Rei, remembering what he said. She nods. "Run fast," she says, flashing a bright grin at him.

Rei smiles back, stopping on the next branch. Sakura stops too.

"We need to catch up to them," Rei says. "How about I carry you on my back? It'll be faster that way." Sakura nods, knowing that she was just slowing them down. Rei kneels down and turns his back to her. Sakura climbs onto his back and he stands, adjusting her for a moment, before racing off to catch up with the rest of their clan, closing the distance quickly. Hashirama turns to look at them over his shoulder to make sure Sakura was close, nodding once in approval to Rei for looking after Sakura before looking forward again.

They make it to the Uchiha compound almost two hours later and the entire village is positively rigid. All the adults were outside, watching the nine Senju walking through the compound. Rei's hands that were hooked under Sakura's knees tightens. Even Tobirama's long, sure strides slow down so that he's walking right in front of Rei and Sakura. All but one of their escorts broke off and disappeared into the crowd of people. The final one leads them to the largest building and knocks on the door.

"My lord," he says, "the pink haired Senju and the Senju clan leader along with their entourage is here."

"Send them in," Madara barks from inside the large building.

Rei puts Sakura down and she walks around him to take Tobirama's hand. They all take their shoes off, respectfully, and follow Hashirama inside. Right off the bat, Sakura notices all the shinobi and healers around the room. All shifting and looking greatly uncomfortable. In the center of the room sits Madara, holding the hand of a boy, between Tobirama and Sakura's ages, laying prone half under the covers. The glares sent Tobirama's way are ignored easily by the white haired man.

The sick Uchiha's skin is gray with purple around his tightly closed eyes. Even his hair, which Sakura assumes is a dark blue color, looks like it's color is faded from the sickness. It lays pooled around the white pillow, washing the color from both his face and hair. He's shirtless with black pants on. The covers are pulled up to just below his waist. There is soiled bandages around a gaping cut just inches above his navel all the way up to his left shoulder.

Sakura can tell right away that the wound is infected and that the prone Uchiha is literally teetering on the line of life and death. His breath is labored and wheezy. His chest shuttering at each breath.

Madara looks over at them, black eyes narrowed and intense. He lays the boy's hand down and stands up, eyes flying to Sakura. In three steps, he closes the distance to the pink haired girl. Tobirama looks like he wants to put himself between them but one look from Hashirama stops him and he begrudgingly lets Madara stop right in front of Sakura, mere inches away.

"I have no where to turn. He's going to die," Madara says, staring down at Sakura. "I can't trust the Senju."

Sakura tilts her head at that. "Senju," she says, pointing to herself. She herself was a Senju. She didn't understand what he was trying to say.

"Not by blood," Madara says, eyes wide. Sakura couldn't dispute that. "You said to call you if I had no other choice. So help me." His words were rough and there was lines under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Sakura nods, stepping around him to walk over to the prone Uchiha, kneeling down next to the pale, unresponsive body. She leans over him, laying her head against his chest, listening to his heart and breathing. His heart rate is fast and his breathing is uneven. Being this close to the wound, Sakura can smell the infection. It was really bad. She can also smell the different herb remedies used to try and help with the infection with no avail. There is also a tang of iron. His wound is still bleeding. Madara was right. This boy is dying.

Madara lowers himself next to her, anxiously looking between them. The Senju that accompanied Sakura intermingle around the room, much to the discomfort of the Uchiha in the room.

Sakura pulls away, straightening up and looking at Madara. "Within 48 hours, he will be dead," she says softly. Madara looks deeply pained by that, which makes Sakura feel bad and wish that she could have somehow worded that a little more kindly.

"So that's it?" Madara says softly, looking down at the boy. "There's nothing you can do?"

Sakura tilts her head. "I can save him."

Madara looks at her, trying not to let himself appear to be too hopeful, but after days of no sleep, his emotions are laid bare. "How?"

Sakura hums, looking back down at the boy, assuming that it was Madara's younger brother, Izuna. She had never met Izuna before, but she had heard a bit from her brothers. He looked so young and weak beneath her. It was hard to believe that someone so delicate was an equal match for her brother. In Sakura's eyes, Hashirama and Tobirama were unbeatable.

"Herbs," Sakura says softly, looking down at Izuna.

"Anything," Madara says, then gestures for some paper.

Sakura writes down a short list of the most random edible herbs that she can think of. She offers it to the healer who looks at the list. First, he looks curious, then confused, then really confused, before looking back at Sakura.

"This is all nonsense, there is no remedy here," he says. He quickly glances over at his clan leader, hoping that he won't get into trouble by speaking out.

"Food?" Sakura asks, tipping her head to the side.

The medic blinks rapidly. "What?"

"She's asking if you put whatever is in that list in your food," Tobirama says, not-so-kindly. The man shrinks a bit under Tobirama's intense, narrowed red eyes. Hashirama clears his throat in warning, staring at his younger brother and shaking his head slightly, mouthing, "lighten up." Tobirama just stares back at him before looking back at the medic. "Well, do you?"

The man jumps, glancing down at the list again, scanning it. "Uh, only these two, but that was maybe three or four days ago," he says, voice slightly uneven from nerves. He shows Sakura the ones that he was talking about.

Sakura half looks at before tapping the list and smiling at him. After a moment of him just staring at her, not understanding, Hashirama softly supplies, "She wants you to gather that stuff..."

The man jumps to his feet, bows to Madara, who wasn't even looking, too busy staring down at his little brother, before running from the room. Sakura taps her chin in thought before looking over at Madara. After almost a full minute of him looking passed her to Izuna, she leans forward to be into his vision, waiting for her face to register in his mind (which is signaled by him blinking back to reality), and asks, "Madara strong?"

Madara narrows his eyes at that. "What are you asking?" He sounds annoyed.

"Madara strong?" Sakura asks again. "Do anything for little brother?"

Black eyes, tired and warn out for lack of sleep, blink slowly. "Of course. Wouldn't you?"

Sakura beams up at him. "I love Hashirama-ani and Tobirama-ani," she says softly. "Madara love Izuna?"

Maybe it was because he was tired, or perhaps the prospect of losing Izuna has made the long black haired young man feel vulnerable, because he nods very slowly, face looking slightly pained. "Hashirama is the only one that can fix him, but I... Izuna, we can't trust Senju..." Hashirama, standing off to the side, able to see Madara's profile, turns away, looking sad. "He insisted that he'd rather die then let a Senju help him," Madara says with a mixture of anger and understanding. He's looks deeply conflicted.

Sakura points to herself. "Senju," she says.

Madara shakes his head. "But you weren't born one. You're different."

Sakura stares at him for a long moment, wondering if there was any point in continuing to argue over it. It was all semantics anyway. No, she wasn't born a Senju but her family insisted that she was one. They were family, regardless of blood.

Finally deciding that there was no point, she stands up and walks around the room, picking up two large, but clean, rages about the size of her forearms, water bowl and mixer. She walks over to Madara and hands one to him and gestures to his shirt and then a "remove it" wave of her hand. Madara looks confused. If he, and everyone else in the room for that matter, were expecting anything from her, that wasn't it.

Sakura looks up at Hashirama and gives him "come hither" look. He obeys and she points at Madara. "Heal, please. Need all strength and chakra."

Madara looks about to protest but Hashirama is already summoning up roots that wrap around the Uchiha clan leader's foot. The elder Uchiha brother looks like he wants to do nothing more than to kick off the vein, but the color is starting to return to his face as Hashirama's rejuvenating chakra fills his body. After an entire minute of nothing horrible happening to Madara, all the Uchiha in the room relax slightly and the Senju follow suite since the Uchiha were relaxing.

"That's enough," Madara snaps, swiftly slicing the vein with a kunai and glaring at Hashirama, undeniably feeling a lot better than he did a moment ago. Hashirama holds up his hands in surrender, backing up to the wall again and leaning against it. Madara gives him another glare for affect to which the long haired Senju clan leader smiled kindly back before looking at Sakura with an arched eyebrow. "What now?"

She points to his shirt. "Off," she says.

Now there is a strange feeling in the air. Madara arches his eyebrow more, opening his mouth, probably to ask her what the hell she is asking him, but Izuna takes that moment to wheeze and whimper in pain, his bandages soaked through again with puss and blood. Madara's jaw snaps shut and he obeys, slightly warily, pulling his long, dark blue Uchiha branded shirt over his head and throwing it to the side, out of the way. Pale, broad chest unclothed reveals intricate latticework of scars that Madara has accumulated over years of battle.

Sakura pulls her eyes away and grabs the rag she had originally handed to him and folds it long ways so it's long and thin and hands it back, gesturing to his waist line.

Madara stares back at her blankly, holding the rag in his head. "...what?"

"She wants you to put it in your pants," Tobirama says whimsically, despite the situation.

Madara glares at him, gritting his teeth to try and stop himself from telling his clansmen to stab Tobirama through the heart. Sakura twists around to look at her brother, eyes wide. She waggles her finger at him. "Naughty Tobi," she says softly. "No, no."

"Yeah Tobi," Hashirama says, eyes wide in exasperation. "No, no..." Tobirama can't tell if his brother is more angry about the joke itself or the fact that their fifteen year old sister knew what he was saying.

Sakura turns back to Madara. "Fold long-ways in waist band," she says, folding her own rag. Skeptically, Madara obeys, tucking it into his waistband before staring at her.

"Sorry for the wait," the healer says, running back into the room breathlessly. He hesitates a split second at the sight of Madara but is smart enough to have not commented on it. He deposits the strange collection of herbs at Sakura's knees. Sakura puts all the herbs together and pours in a bit of water and mashes them all up until it's a fine, unappealing greenish brown slush in the bowl.

Sakura lays the bowl down between herself and Madara, to her right, before leaning over Izuna. She leans her head close to his, shaking his shoulder lightly. "Izuna?" she whispers. He doesn't react, eyes becoming more and more sunken in. Sakura waits a few moments before shaking his shoulder a little bit harder and saying louder, "Izuna."

Still no reaction.

Sakura lets out a soft huff of breath before pulling back and picking up the bowl and bringing it to her lips, pulling in a bit of the concoction before laying the bowl down and leaning over Izuna again. She puts a hand behind his head and lifts it slightly, forcing her chakra into her mouth and imbuing it into the mixture before pressing her lips to his, using a finger on his chin to pull his mouth open and depositing the mixture into the unconscious Uchiha's mouth before pulling back and working his throat gently with her finger to force him to swallow.

Everyone around the room looks slightly uncomfortably, especially the three brothers; Hashirama, Tobirama and Madara. But thankfully no one spoke. Anyone with even the slightest bit of medical training knows that sometimes mama-birding someone is necessary. Regardless of it being uncouth. Sakura didn't have much else that she could have done, but that didn't make any of them feel much better.

Sakura lays Izuna's head down gently, before sitting back on her legs and swiftly removing the top of her kimono, letting it pool around her waist and pulling off the tight black shirt. All the men in the room immediately look away both out of respect and sudden discomfort. The only thing covering the girl was the wrapping that Toka, at the last minute decided to put on the pink haired girl, around the small swell of her breasts. Now the Senju woman was eternally grateful. This situation, while really awkward now, could have been a lot worse. A lot worse.

"Sakura-sama," Toka says, stepping closer, her hand outstretched. She was about to grab the girl's discarded black shirt and throw it back over the pink haired girl's braided head whether she liked it or not when Sakura looked over at her and shook her head, returning to what she was doing.

The pink haired girl doesn't seem to notice the shirt once again as she tucks in her own rag on her waist, same as Madara before taking a drink of the concoction, making a sour face before holding her hand over the rest and filling it with her unique light purple chakra. After a moment she stops, holding it out for Madara. He didn't see it because he was looking away, so Sakura reached out and grabbed his hand and turned it up, placing the bowl into it.

"Drink," she says and waits for him to do it before quickly grabbing the bowl and putting it down and taking his hand. Madara flinches at the touch, doing everything he can to avoid looking at her.

"Please dress," Madara says gruffly. "It is unbecoming of a young lady."

"Senju," Sakura says.

Madara snorts, "Contrary to the common man's belief, Senju women, can still be ladies."

Toka huffs annoyed why Hashirama had to smother a laugh, flinching when he felt Toka's death glare on the side of his head. He clears his throat in an attempt to hide his slip.

Sakura reaches out and turns his face toward her, he looks up at the ceiling to avoid looking directly at her near naked torso. "Izuna," Sakura says and Madara's eyes fly passed her to his little brother, who's color is fading more and more as they speak. His chest is glistening from the sweat, puss and blood pouring from it. That's right. Now isn't the time to be a prude or make jokes. Izuna is going to die.

Madara's face falls into grim understanding, turning his eyes to Sakura's but making sure to keep them there. "Tell me what to do next," he orders.

Sakura takes Izuna's hand and lays it on top of Madara's and hold them together with her own. Sakura closes her eyes and concentrates. She isn't sure what she's doing, just that she's done it before and she knows it will save Izuna if done right. Sakura focuses her energy into pulling Izuna's weak, wispy chakra up to the surface. At the movement of chakra, against the room's collective better judgment, they look back over.

Izuna's body is engulfed by his chakra. It's weak and limp. Like an ember to the bright flame that it used to be before he got hurt. A true testament to just how close he is knocking on death's door.

Once she's got Izuna's chakra bubbling to the surface of his body, she gently probes Madara's and he immediately complies, letting his own chakra surge to the surface, heating the room like an inferno. Sakura smiles faintly knowing that is exactly what she needs. She lets her own chakra manifest, a cool, soothing purple chakra, neatly nestled between the ember and inferno.

Sakura began to pull the three chakras together, just before they all combined into one, a single, soft word can be heard beneath the roar of Madara's chakra, "Transference."


	3. Transference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Sorry for the wait! Thank you all for your kind words! I love hearing what you all have to say! Let me know what you guys think. Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing!
> 
> Warnings: Possibly language and a bit of descriptive wouds.
> 
> Word Count: 6,014

Both Sakura and Madara's visions blacken. When they both open their eyes, they are standing in a large open meadow. It nice and warm with the sun beating down on them and warm breeze to ruffle their hair. Sakura watches the loose strands of her pink hair of her fringe and what escaped her braid fly around her face. Sakura looked around, marveled.

"I remember this place," Madara whispers, looking around the meadow. He takes a few steps forward in the knee high grass and weeds.

"I do too," another voice next to them says. Madara and Sakura both look over at the third person there with them. It was the young man that was laying in the bed back at the Uchiha compound. Izuna Uchiha.

"Our minds are melding together," Sakura says, looking out over the meadow. "This is where Izuna wishes to be."

"Who are you?" Izuna asks, narrowing his eyes at Sakura suspitiously. Then to Madara, "How are you here, brother? What's going on?"

Madara doesn't respond right away. He looks around hesitantly before saying, evasively, "She is a healer of sorts. You needn't worry about that now, Izuna. She's here to help me save you."

"I don't need saving, Madara," Izuna says stubbornly. "What's wrong?"

Madara glares at Izuna. "The wound Tobirama inflicted upon you isn't healing, brother. It's horribly infected. You're dying, so stop being a stubborn brat for once and just let me help you." Izuna's face twists into a look of surprise, before falling grim, probably seeing the truth written across Madara's face and looking away. "Now, Sakura, what are we doing here?"

"Transference is incomplete until we become one," Sakura says, looking passed Madara to the field. "First we must see each other's most intimate desire." Madara and Izuna look at each other, suddenly not looking very comfortable. Especially since all three of them are shirtless, save for the wrapping across Sakura's breasts. Izuna is unhurt in his own head.

Suddenly, in the middle of the meadow, four little black haired boys appear. All younger than Sakura. The youngest is probably four or five. The oldest is probably eight or nine. The four little boys are running around a tall elegant black haired woman. She was absolutely beautiful and looked down at the four boys with undeniable, irrefutable love in her eyes.

She kneels down in between the four boys, and smiles up at them as they circled her and play around.

"Mother," Izuna and Madara both whisper. They were about thirty feet from the miniature Madara and Izuna along with the two other boy and their mother. Nothing more was said as they just sat there for a while, watching the woman watching her children run around playing. Sakura leans down and runs her fingers over the rough grass, admiring Izuna's memory and attention to detail. She supposes she'd have to expect that since he is adept at genjutsu.

Beyond this peaceful scene, there is a band of darkness shimmering, nearly undetected in the picture before Sakura. Expertly woven through the boys and their mom like fine thread. It wasn't like it was holding the picture together, if anything, it was almost damaging the image. Whatever it was, it was something bad. It was a blemish on the picture, even though it was barely noticeable. Now that Sakura was looking at it, she couldn't stop staring. It was just nasty and horrible. A mar on the otherwise peaceful scene.

Like a curse, her mind supplies her.

The world darkens again, slowly, pulling Sakura from her thoughts. Everything around them darkens, honing in on the four Uchiha boys and their mother like a tunnel until only their mother is left floating in the darkness just a foot in front of them, standing tall with her long black hair pulled up into an elegant knot on the top of her head with long, waist length bangs framing her face. She was beautiful with large black eyes and a thick black band pressed flush against her throat with an Uchiwa fan laying on her clavicle. Her kimono is large and a stark contrast to her dark hair and eyes; stark white with black trim and red intricate flowers winding around the bottom, blue leaves splayed across the front.

Even in the blackness, there was a glow about her that made her seem angelic. She was truly beautiful.

She smiles at them, making both Izuna and Madara's shoulders sagging in sadness before she, too, disappears into the blackness. They stand in the silence until they hear the sound of children laughing. Two little boys, brothers, Sakura knows, go running between them, as if they weren't there. The only color in the empty. They are two boys from the Senju compound that Sakura has seen a lot.

The two boys run so far away from them that the fade into the abyss. Then, they appear in front of Sakura, Tobirama and Hashirama's home in the Senju camp overlooking the rest of the family. They can hear the sounds of people talking and laughing and children running around. Hashirama stands in front of them, staring out over the compound, long brown hair blowing in the breeze.

Sakura steps up next to her brother and looks up at him. "What are you looking at?" Sakura asks the image of her eldest brother. Tobirama stood a few feet away, staring out over the village with his arms crossed over his chest.

"The future," Hashirama responds, glancing down at her and smiling. "One day, we won't have to ever worry about going to war. We can just sit around and have fun and get to know each other. There will stop being a 'them' and 'us'. There will just be..." Hashirama tilts his head to the side. "There will just be an 'everyone'. No more Uchiha and Senju. No more secondary clans or slavery. There is just unity and... well," he laughs and gestures around at all of them, "the family."

Sakura smiles faintly up at her eldest brother. "Who's family?"

Hashirama gives her a sideways look. "Silly Sakura," he murmurs, shaking his head. He turns to her and gives her a thousand watt smile, closing his eyes. "After we finally set aside our differences, there isn't going to be anything separating the Uchiha from the Senju." He reaches out and tucks a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear. "Would you like that?" Hashirama asks, petting down her hair.

"Yes, Hashirama-ani," Sakura says softly, turning away from her brother as the images fades away, similar to before. Sakura walks over to Madara and Izuna, smiling up at them. Izuna is looking at Madara in the corner of his eye, a slight tilt down to the corner of his lips. Madara doesn't look at him, probably sure about why his little brother is upset.

Sakura tilts her head to the side in confusion, looking between the brothers. Neither say anything to the young pink haired girl, so Sakura shrugs and turns back around to see the next and final scene, which is Madara's, reviews a large river and a small, familiar brown haired boy, reminiscent of the first time Sakura saw him.

"Hashirama," Sakura says softly, smiling down at the shorter image of her big brother. This is probably the only time she'll be taller than him.

Appearing next to the young Hashirama is a young Madara, also reminiscent of the first time she saw the Uchiha clan leader. Sakura could hear Izuna shifting uncomfortably next to Madara as young Madara and young Hashirama begin to talk about their desire for peace. They talk about wanting to unite all the warring clans and finding a place where everyone can live together in peace. Where everyone can build familial bonds with people who aren't their blood family. They talk about wanting to raise children in peaceful times so that their children don't have to know the horrors of war.

Sakura was almost distracted enough to miss a very similar thread of darkness, swimming around in the water. It wasn't as prominent as Izuna's but Sakura's sure of it now. It's some kind curse that was somehow placed on both brothers. There's no sign of what exact kind of curse it is or what it's doing, but Sakura has an uneasy feeling about it being here. Izuna's curse appears to be interacting with the forefront of his mind, while Madara's seems to be somewhat subdued. Like it wasn't exactly active.

Sakura's eyebrows pull together in worry, but she doesn't have enough time to really think about it because the image is starting to fade. Sakura turns to Madara and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Madara," Sakura says, pulling the elder brother's attention to her.

"Is something else going to happen now?" Madara asks, making a point of looking right into her eyes, lest his eyes chose to wonder.

Sakura nods. "We go back," she gestures around ambiguously. "With melding process done, we can heal Izuna."

Madara glances over at a curious looking Izuna before returning his attention to Sakura. "Okay, and what are we going to be doing?"

"Split damage," Sakura says, gesturing to the unhurt Izuna. "You won't have Hashirama-ani heal you?" She asks Madara, green eyes wide and innocent. Izuna sucks in a deep breath, looking deeply unhappy about this, but chooses not to say anything.

Madara shakes his head, tilting his head up. "No, I can take care of myself."

"As can I," Izuna says dryly, glaring at his elder brother.

"You're dying, Izuna," Madara snaps. "Don't be a brat."

Izuna sighs, running a hand through messy dark blue hair. "I told you that I don't want anything to do with the Senju. I told you not to trust them, Madara. And here you are. With a Senju." He gestures to Sakura.

"Loophole," Madara says coyly in return, "she's not actually a Senju. She was taken in by them. Just like you said about the side families in the Uchiha clan; last name doesn't make them family. Genetics are still genetics."

Izuna sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Of course you'd use my own words against me, Madara. Why am I shocked?"

"I am trying to save you life, Izuna, so pipe down," Madara snaps, annoyed and obviously upset. "Haven't we already had this conversation?" he asks rhetorically. Izuna's jaw snaps shut, glaring frustrated at his elder brother.

"You're the boss," Izuna mutters, probably not intending for Madara to hear him.

But he does and Madara huffs like he's dealing with a undisciplined child. "I am. Now shut up and let me take care of you." Then to Sakura. "What are we doing?"

Sakura points to herself. "Wound." Then to Madara. "Infection." Madara looks confused for a moment, but then a look of grim understanding crosses both brothers' faces. Sakura points to herself again. "Hashirama." Then to Madara. "Fire chakra."

Izuna's eyebrows pull together skeptically. "What does that mean? I have fire chakra too, little good that did."

"Hotter fire," Sakura says simply, blinking in innocent confusion when Izuna glared at her.

Now that the scene is full gone and only darkness remains, Sakura realizes that Madara's desire wasn't over yet. In the blackness, two figures stand prominent. Standing on an invisible ground, adult Madara and adult Hashirama stand before each other, paused mid handshake. Slowly filling in around them is members of both of the clans, Uchiha and Senju. Hashirama and Madara's second-in-command, Tobirama and Izuna, stand by their sides, not touching, just looking at each other. No hate. No anger. Just simple, understanding staring.

Izuna took a moment to stare at the image in silence, shoulders slumping and a strange look flickering across his face. Madara watches him from the corner of his eye, as if silently debating on whether to apologize for his deepest desire or not. Ultimately, he sighs and looks back at the image in front of them with a hard look on his face. Right before the image faded, Sakura appeared next to Tobirama, closer to the trio. Fake Sakura turned to look at them, and smiled, before it all disappeared.

All three of them were brought back into reality, after what feels like hours but was actually only a couple of seconds on the outside, with a jolt. The jolt was strong enough to pull Izuna from whatever medical coma he seemed to be in, eyes opening blearily. Without missing a beat, Sakura followed her instincts and started, using her chakra, to pull the damage from Izuna to her and Madara. It was a little difficult at first, Madara, without being able to control it, naturally repelled the foreign attack, using his chakra as a buffer. After a few quick moments, Madara got himself under control and began to allow the infection Sakura was pulling from Izuna to be pushed into Madara.

Sakura felt sick to her stomach with the infection inside of her, no matter how short that was. It was like her entire body was ripped open and poison was poured into her before he body was sealed back up. It made her choke and shutter and, admittedly, pushed it into Madara with perhaps a bit more force than she needed to. She knew she wasn't exaggerating on how bad it was when Madara's already pale face turned gray almost immediately after accepting the infection.

Sakura focused on first moving all the infection within Izuna's body into Madara's through her own. She knew that she had to do this one first. She would need Hashirama's help healing from her half of the job, and she could have a fourth person's chakra just suddenly be added to mix, especially since Hashirama wouldn't have ate the odd assortment of herbs that Sakura had put together.

The only reason this melding worked so well was because Izuna and Madara were so genetically similar. They were brothers that shared the same parents. The concoction that Sakura made was doing its job too. For a short time while they are digesting it, it's making them similar. There is elements inside their bodies that make them the same. The melding would never have worked since Sakura has no genetic connection to the two brothers. There was nothing that made them similar. No ancestor that they could have shared.

Nope. The only thing that they shared was the food - and such a terms is used lightly - that the three of them all ate. So, for as long as it's in all their systems, the melding can work. Just as Madara had said to Izuna in referring to Sakura being a Senju.

Loophole.

Sakura doesn't know how she knows this technique, just that she does, and she's known it for a long time. All the answers seem to come to her easily without much forethought. Yes, Sakura has decided, she has known this for a long time. Yet her memories are all foggy from before she came to the Senju clan. The only thing she can remember is the lips that were in great detail, saying something. Yet Sakura still doesn't remember what that is.

Once all the infection is pulled from Izuna and into Madara, Sakura tenses up, pausing for a moment to watch as Madara's body burns like an inferno around, heating up the room in it's ferocity. Never before had Sakura seen such powerful fire. If she wasn't technically 'one' with the Uchiha leader, she would worry that the heat of his fire nature would burn her alive. She's not at all surprised that everyone else in the room recoils a bit to avoid the blue fireball in the center of the room. Even through the fiery chakra, Sakura can see a wound, identical to Izuna's open up in Madara's chest, puss and blood leaking out bit by bit.

But Sakura can see it, clear as day, Madara's fire is burning hot enough to kill the infection and, if he lets it burn any hotter, cauterize his own wound closed. Sakura is in awe at the raw ferocity of the Uchiha's fire. Hashirama always told Sakura that he was proud of how powerful his childhood friend had become. Sakura had written it off as her brother being the kind, open minded man he's grown to be. But sitting there now, seeing his raw, and intimidating power, first hand, Sakura can agree with Hashirama.

Madara's chakra is barely chakra. It's just one match away from becoming molten lava in his body. His body, which was glowing like a sun in the center of the room, slowly begins to dim down, alerting Sakura that he's aware that the infection is clearing out. Sakura shakes her head, pulling back into herself to focus. She reaches into Izuna with her chakra, grabbing hold of his wound and pulling it into herself.

Sakura should have expected, with how bad the infection was, that the wound would be pretty bad. But she was caught off guard by just how bad it was. The wound appearing on her own body was like the skin on either side, that was previously unmarred, went ballistic and began to rip apart in opposite directions. Rushing away from one another, pulling the skin taut until it could be stretched no more and the skin ripped. Deeper, deeper, deeper.

Sakura cried out in pain, doubling over. She squeezes her hands tightly around the two brothers' hands, forcing herself not to let go. Sakura grits her teeth, forcing herself to continue. Through one squinted eye, she watches as the wound on Izuna's chest slowly starts to close up, as it begins to open up on Sakura's. She can feel the wetness running down her stomach. Sakura curls a bit, whimpering softly in pair, but continues on.

As soon as the wound is sealed on Izuna, twin dazed black orbs stare back up at her. Once she can feel that there is no more damage inside of Izuna before she pulls her hands back, severing their connection. Sakura crosses her arms over her chest, as if trying to hold the two pieces together. Her vision is blurred. Sakura doubles over, laying on her side, crying.

Izuna was in so much pain, she can't even begin to fathom it. Why did she think this was a good idea? It hurt so bad. She'll be happy when Izuna is all better, but for now, she's in so much pain it's blinding.

She felt Hashirama wrapping his arms around her almost immediately. She can feel her older brother's healing chakra flooding into her, already closing the large wound in her chest. He was whispering something into her ear as he held her, but she couldn't hear his words over the sound of her own sobbing. She knew it wasn't helping, but crying was the only thing that helped distract her from her pain.

Before she knew it, her arms were pinned to her chest by Hashirama's arms around her, rocking back and forth slowly, soothing. Her chest had been healed, but all she could feel now was the ghost pain of the cut. If Sakura had no respect for Izuna before, she did now. Even deeply drugged, this had to hurt so bad. Sakura had no buffer, nothing to mentally prepare her for the pain. It was truly blinding.

Sometime along the way, Sakura had stopped crying and was just laying limp in Hashirama's arms, being rocked back and forth. It was a bit stifling considering that the room was super-heated, what felt like hours but was probably only a couple of minutes before, with Madara's chakra. Sakura's body was trembling slightly, both from the force of her previous sobbing and the pain receptors in her body firing off. The pain remained even once the wound was gone.

"Never again," Hashirama murmurs, kissing the top of Sakura's head. "Never, ever again."

Sakura, who was laying sideways in Hashirama's arms, finally focuses her eyes off the wooden grains on the floor, to the two Uchiha brothers. Madara was right where she last saw him. He was leaning heavily on his own knees, panting lightly, beads of sweat rolling down his cheek. His back glistened a bit in the light filtering in through the windows. Izuna was sitting up a bit, propped up on one elbow. He looked exhausted, but otherwise alright.

"Is Izuna...?" Sakura murmurs, her voice hoarse and throat raw from her crying.

The medical shinobi who, like everyone was in a perpetual state of froze mid-action, was reaching out toward them. He looked as though he was either trying to help them or stop them, but froze up. He blinks a few times, realizing that Sakura was speaking to him. He looks down at Izuna for a moment, noticing that the younger brother of the clan leader was now sitting up. He drops down onto his knees next to them, reaching out with his hands, sending healing chakra into Izuna's body, searching for any more internal injuries.

After a few moments, he pulls back his chakra and begins to pull the bandages off of Izuna's chest, looking at the sweat glistened skin of the young man, noting that, where the gaping, infected wound once was, is now just a jagged, pink scar. Madara pulls the rag from his waistband that stopped the bit of puss and blood from staining his pants, and uses it to dry his chest a bit.

Sakura follows suit, pulling out the rag and wiping her chest as much as she can with her arms pinned. Hashirama pulls back and holds his hand out for the shirt Toka still has clenched in her hands. She quickly hands it over. With a bit more space, Sakura mops up the blood from her chest, noting that it stained the bandages around her breasts.

Hashirama didn't seem to mind as he helped her maneuver putting her shirt back on. Sakura felt weak and tired. He then helped her pull up the top of her battle kimono up over the black shirt before lifting her up in his arms.

"We'll be going on," Hashirama says, his voice strained, obviously unhappy. A dazed and exhausted Izuna swallows, with apparent difficulty before his eyes roll into the back of his head and his breath evens out. Sakura reaches a hand out toward Madara, that at first he stares at it not knowing what to do, before he reaches out and takes it. His larger hand easily able to wrap around Sakura's smaller one.

"How can I thank you-" Madara starts, wondering if thanks were what Sakura wanted. She shakes her head, squeezing his hand as tightly as her little one could manage. Madara's hand is hot, both from the heat in the air and his own excretion earlier. The warmth from his hand fills her arm with heat. It feels nice.

"Izuna needs strength," Sakura says softly, her voice rough. "Skin to skin."

Madara tilts his head, not really understanding.

"It's something that all children were taught in the Senju clan," Hashirama says softly, looking at Madara. Black eyes flicker up to him, almost as if for a moment he forgot the Senju leader was there. "Skin to skin contact helps make people strong. It's practiced by mothers with their babies and healthy people with their sick loved ones. She's saying that by being by Izuna's side, and holding his hand, it'll give him the strength to wake up sooner and be stronger when he does."

Madara nods slowly, looking over at his little brother. He gives Sakura's hand a small squeeze before pulling away and looking down at his sleeping little brother, before looking to Hashirama. "About the treaty-"

"Are you going to take back your word?" Hashirama asks quickly, moving to stand, holding Sakura easily in his arms.

Madara narrows his eyes a bit, as if insulted. "No, I'm not."

"Then it doesn't matter," Hashirama says. "Wait until Izuna is healthy. We'll talk again about it later. Our little siblings come first, okay? Take care of Izuna." There's a strange terseness to his voice. Madara must have noticed it, for his dark eyes look up into Hashirama's dark brown ones, studying them for a moment. "I'm sorry, Madara, we can talk again soon. I wish for a swift recovery for Izuna."

"And I wish the same for Sakura," he murmurs still looking at Hashirama intensely.

"Let's go, everyone," Hashirama says, looking over at Tobirama and nodding once. Tobirama nods back and heads right for the door. "Good day, Uchiha," Hashirama says respectfully before following Tobirama to the door. There were a few surprised murmurs of farewell, as if they didn't really know what they were saying. Most appeared to still be in shock over watching Sakura and Madara essentially heal a dying boy. Sakura looks at Madara over Hashirama's shoulder. She wiggles her fingers a little bit in farewell. Madara nods once, looking between Sakura and Hashirama with impossibly black eyes.

It wasn't until they reached the forest, when Tobirama slowed down his steps to be in tandem with Hashirama. Narrow, crimson eyes were scanning the area for a few moments before looking over at a dozing Sakura in Hashirama's arms. "Do you want me to take her, brother?"

"I love you, Tobi," Sakura murmurs, half asleep.

His eyebrow twitches a bit, the look in his eyes softening a bit. "And I you, little blossom," he says, then looks up at Hashirama, who had a faint smile on his lips, but there was still this look in his eyes. He was obviously very unhappy about what had happened in the Uchiha compound. "Brother?"

"It's alright, Tobirama, I can carry her for a bit," Hashirama says, adjusting Sakura in his arms. "Sakura, tell me what you need. Are you going to be okay? Is there anything you want? Anything you need?"

Sakura lays her forehead against Hashirama's shoulder, while holding out a hand for Tobirama. "Tobi's hand," Sakura says softly. His cool, smooth hand slips around hers, cooling her body down a bit. Sakura snuggles up a bit in the protection of her two brothers. She doesn't know how she knows any of this, but she does. The knowledge was always just there. It just appears out of nowhere.

For years, since Hashirama became clan leader, the Senju clan had been looking into where Sakura could have learned to do some of the weird things that she could do. Sakura just has intuition about people, good or bad. She's able to sense people. Not like Tobirama, and not nearly as powerful. Only people she's met, she know when they are getting close, most of the time. It's kind of hard for people whom she knows to sneak up on her.

She's even able to absorb people's chakra. Just randomly, one day she could do it when she suddenly fell ill and was suffering from a high fever. Tobirama was sitting next to her while Hashirama was looking around for herbs to bring her fever down. Her sickness was something that was going around the compound and no one knew how to stop it, so Hashirama was looking for something to help.

Tobirama was holding her hand when he noticed that he was losing chakra. Not a lot, and not alarmingly. Just small trickles at a time. Tobirama's control was so good that he was easily able to tell. It didn't take him long to realize where it was going - to Sakura. She was absorbing his water chakra and was somehow bring down her own body temperature, while unconscious.

She can't do it while awake and it only happens when she's touching someone who's chakra could help her if she needed it. Like if she's burning up, she can absorb water chakra. If she's freezing, she can absorb fire chakra. She's never needed to absorb wind, lightning and earth chakra.

So, as soon as she fell asleep in Hashirama's arms on the way back home, she began to absorb Tobriama's chakra from where they were holding hands. Tobirama could pull away from her touch or hold his own chakra in place - he was one of the few people with enough control necessary to be able to do that - but doesn't. In the medical aspect, there was little Tobirama was able to do for Sakura whenever she was sick or hurt. This was it. And he can barely notice the difference. As his control over his water nature became beyond perfect, the less she needs to take to cool down.

When Sakura wakes up, she's back in the compound. She's in her room. She gets up and heads for the bathroom to relieve herself and wash and change into a white and pink flowery kimono. Sakura heads out of her room and looks down at the rest of her clan's homes. It's about noon now. Sakura must have slept through the entire day. She's hungry.

When she left the house, she stands out on the porch with her arms outstretched enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down on her. She spin around slowly, closing her eyes. Her wet, limp hair spins around after her, soaking though the back of her kimono. But she didn't mind, the air was warm enough to dry her clothes without getting her sick. Sakura would have liked to keep spinning around, but she suddenly got to the point where her equilibrium was suddenly thrown off and she was stumbling around, dizzy.

She must have stepped too close to the edge of the porch because, one moment she was spinning dizzily. The next, she's in open air, falling backward. Sakura wasn't too concerned, it was probably a two foot drop, but someone catches her. Sakura waits until her vision clears to see that her savior was Rei. He was smiling down at her kindly.

"Dizzy?" He guesses.

Sakura nods. Once her vision is clear, she motions to be let down, which he obliges. When she's solid on her feet, she takes his hand and starts making her way toward the rest of the clan homes. She can smell lunch being cooked, and her stomach really wants some. She just sort of assumed that Rei had gone up to her home to see if she needed anything, which is why she's bringing him back with her. If he had another perpose for going, she'd figured that he'd have told her so and pulled away.

In the center of the village is usually where the big lunches are cooked. There is a large fire pit there with a large boar being cooked over it. Sakura's mouth waters at the smell. She jumps up and down giddily, squeezing Rei's hand and looking up at him.

"Mmm," she hums, smiling tight lipped.

Rei takes a deep breath. "Yeah, it smells really good, doesn't it?"

Sakura nods, leading him toward the gathering. People were sitting around the fire pit, laughing and talking. Sakura freezes. Directly in front of her was very familiar wild, short white hair. Sakura pulls her hand from Rei's and holds her hands up in a mock sneaking fashion. She starts stepping closer and closer to him from behind, trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as she can while sneaking up on her brother.

About five feet away, Tobirama says, "Don't do it."

Sakura pauses, wondering if he was talking to her. She waits for a moment before continuing, slower this time. Above Tobirama's head, Sakura spots Hashirama staring at her, in front of Tobirama, grinning playfully. Either Tobirma sensed her coming, or Hashirama gave her away by staring at her while she's trying to be sneaky.

Sakura starts trying to tip toe closer. She only gets a few small steps closer before Tobirama sipped his drink before setting it down at his feet and saying, "Don't so it."

Sakura pauses for another moment, before tensing up her muscles and leaping toward him. Tobirama spins around at the last minute to catch Sakura. His right hand rested on her ribs, keeping her back resting across his legs and the left was caught in her wild, wet, pink locks, keeping her head from falling too far back too suddenly.

"Got you," he says simply, looking down at Sakura. "What are the steps of sneaking up on an opponent?"

"Stop breathing," Sakura says softly.

Tobirama nods. "Yes. And then?"

"Step lightly."

"Yes. And?"

Sakura squints up at him, blinking a few times in confusion. "Ah..." Sakura hums, looking around at the upside down world. "Ah..?"

Tobirama blinks a few times, waiting for her to answer. After almost a solid minute of Sakura just randomly humming, not knowing what the answer he seeks is. The second Senju son finally adjusts Sakura a bit in his grip and says, simply, "Chakra."

"Conceal your chakra," Skaura says softly, smiling sheepishly.

Tobirama nods. "Good. Never forget such a simple thing, Skaura. It is about life and death, understand?"

Sakura tilts her head a little bit, neck somewhat hurting from the strange angle. Sakura reaches out with her hand up and touches Tobirama's cheek, smiling brightly up at him, a hint of oblivion on her face, as if she didn't completely understand. "Okay," she says.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" Hashirama asks. Tobirama helps Sakura lean back up and sit her down on the stump next to him. "Do you need anything?" Hashirama asks, accepting a cup one of their cousins offers him. He takes a sip of it and nods, smiling his thanks to the clansman.

Sakura taps her chin in thought before pointing to the boar and then her stomach, smiling.

Hashirama laughs, looking relieved. "That we can do. Just be patient. You slept through dinner last night and breakfast this morning. It's no surprise. You don't need anything else?"

Sakura shakes her head. Momo, as per usual, finds her way over to Sakura and starts doing her hair. Once the top of Sakura's head was twisted up into whatever hairstyle Momo was putting it in, she leans her head against Tobirama's shoulder and listens quietly to everyone talking. Tobirama doesn't appear to mind the extra weight, picking up his drink again and taking a sip before offering some to Sakura.

Sakura takes a few gulps of the tea before handing it back and interlocking her fingers at the crook of Tobirama's inner elbow. After a few minutes of listening to everyone talk, Sakura got the gist of it. In two days time, the Uchiha and the Senju are going to come together and sign the alliance treaty and it will be the official end to Sengoku Jidai.


	4. What Is Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Sorry for the wait! Thanks for everything you've all had to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing!
> 
> Warnings: Possibly language and a bit of descriptive wouds.
> 
> Word Count: 5,580

Sakura was so happy standing alongside Tobirama, right hand gripping his inner elbow, watching as Madara and Hashirama sign the peace treaty. She tugs on his arm, grinning up at his impassive face. He glances down at her for a moment before looking back up at the scene in front of him. Sakura rests her head against the middle of her older brother's arm, closing her eyes and listening to Hashirama softly talking to Madara about the alliance. They've been talking for a while when Sakura felt that someone was staring at her.

She opens her eyes and looks around for who was looking at her, which was a good portion of people, since she was the only girl there. Even if she was told not to come along, she would have come anyway. Or, at least she would have tried, and probably got lost on her way. Then her brothers would have to go looking for her and now was the time for celebration. Not looking for the missing little sister of the Senju clan leader.

But, she digresses. The person that's looking at her the most intense is Izuna Uchiha, standing behind Madara. Sakura locks eyes with him and tilts her head curiously, blinking with childish innocence. Izuna's face is hard and set, staring right at her, as if deep in thought. He's standing upright easily enough, his back is straight and strong. His pallor is still pale and he still has dark circles under his eyes. As soon as Sakura saw him, she knew that there was something deeply wrong with the slightly older boy.

She knew that he was still tired from his injury, it had only been a few days, but there was a worn, obviously upset look on his face. Sakura didn't think about it much at the time, but she began to wonder if perhaps she was called in to help the younger Uchiha brother too late. She may have saved his life, but what did he really lose along the way?

Looking at his face now, Sakura has an aching feeling she knows what that is. She just hopes that she's wrong. But every time her eyes flicker up toward the younger Uchiha brother, she worried that she may be right.

The breeze this day blew right through Sakura, making her shiver and pull closer to the warmth of the white haired man next to her. Even wearing his armor and short sleeves, he was warm next to her. Even if goosebumps appeared across the flesh of his arm as a particular cold breeze passes over them, his body still remained warm against it.

He must have felt Sakura practically trying to fuse with his arm to block out some of the cold, because he extracts his arm from her grip and wraps it around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side. Sakura presses her cheek against the cold metal of his armor and she wraps her arms around his waist, all the while his eyes remained on the two clan leaders and his face remained impassive. Her kimono wasn't thick enough to keep the cold out, but it also let the warmth from Tobirama seep in.

Hashirama and Madara both sign the treaty and climb to their feet, stepping around the table to stand before each other. They reach out and shake hands, staring at one another with barely contained excitement, for both of them. Though Madara's only shown in his eyes. Sakura was watching first hand as both of their dreams were becoming reality. Sakura couldn't be more happy for her eldest brother. And for everyone of both clans who had long since dreamed of this day.

Everyone claps respectfully, eyeing each other from the ten feet that separate the two sides, bridged only by Madara and Hashirama's hands wrapped around one another. After they let go, Hashirama insisted that the Uchiha come and join the Senju for a celebratory dinner, on the Senju. They were a bit hesitant, on both sides, but Madara agreed and so the Uchiha had no choice but to come along.

Sakura helped the other Senju women prepare the feast, running errands for them left and right. Sakura was just as excited as the rest of the clan. They were worried too, that this was all too good to be true, but Hashirama was so confident, so sure, that it was difficult for others to not get excited in preparation to the feast later that night. If everything went well, then both clans would be uprooted and move to an area of both clan leaders approval and start building a home there for both of them to live.

Sakura was relieved from preparation when all that was left was cooking and other things she wasn't trusted to help with, which was fine with Sakura, because it gave her the opportunity to look for her brothers. She found them in a meeting with the Senju elders. She grabs the edge of the window sill of the elevated building, jumping up to be able to see inside.

"I mean no disrespect by this, Lord Hashirama," one of the elders says, resting his hands on his thighs, "but don't you think it's premature to allow the Uchiha into the compound like this? I understand that we signed a treaty, but isn't it a bit too soon?"

Hashirama stares at him blankly, humming softly deep in his throat. "I don't think so," he admits. "I think this is a long time coming." The ten other elders in the clan stare back at Hashirama with obvious dislike for his words.

"My lord, surely you've thought this through a little more thoroughly," one of them offers, trying to bait the young leader into explaining his mysterious plan they seem to believe he has.

Hashirama taps his chin, tilting his head to the side before shrugging. "No, not really."

"Lord Hashirama..." there were some murmurs from the elders as they exchange looks.

Hashirama turns his head a bit, his back to Sakura and the window. "What are you doing, little blossom? Do you want to come in here?"

Sakura jumps again, looking in at her brother's back, smiling. Tobirama, who was to Hashirama's right, turns to look at her. Hashirama stands up and walks over to the window and reaches down to grab Sakura under the arms and picks her up, easily pulling her through the window. Sakura wraps her arms around Hashirama's neck as he carried her over to the table and sat, placing her between himself and Tobirama. He puts his arm around her shoulders and she leans against him.

"What about you, Sakura?" Hashirama asks, looking down at the pink haired girl. "Do you like having the treaty with the Uchiha?"

Sakura nods, smiling brightly up at her eldest brother. Hashirama smiles down at her, pleased.

"My lord," another elder says, "I think it goes without saying that we are all pleased about the treaty finally being signed, but we are making ourselves very vulnerable by already opening our homes to the Uchiha. How can any of us be relaxed in such a situation? I fear that there will be hardly a celebratory atmosphere tonight."

Hashirama looks around the room with level dark brown eyes. Even though he was one of the youngest in his family line to become clan leader, Hashirama has shown great ability to lead and nearly unmatched skills on the battlefield. No matter how goofy or unthinking he may appear, there are moments of great intensity from the eldest Senju sibling that can somber up an entire room. This was one of those moments.

Everyone just stares back at him as he quietly looks around the room, making eye contact with everyone before smiling brightly. A big toothy smile that brightens up the room. "Then it will be up to us to pick up the slack, won't it?" He pats Sakura's arm encouragingly. "We all wanted this to happen and it finally has. Never look a gift horse in the mouth! They may be able to relax better if we show them we aren't afraid or worried."

No one could dispute that, but it didn't appear to make anyone feel much better. Not really.

"Hashirama is right," Tobirama says, crossing his arms over his chest, "work hard to be accommodating, but keep vigilant. We all want this treaty to work." There are some murmurs of agreement.

"Is there anything else that we need to discuss?" Hashirama asks, looking around the room.

"Izuna is sick," Sakura says softly, wrapping her arms around Hashirama's mid-section.

Tobirama stares at her with narrowed red eyes. "What do you mean? Didn't you already heal him? Is there something still wrong with him?"

Sakura nuzzles a bit into Hashirama's side before looking over at Tobirama. "Wound gone. Damage remain."

"Something wrong inside of him?" Hashirama asks, leaning back a bit to look down at her. "Is it something that the Uchiha healers can fix?" Sakura shrugs.

"What's wrong with him exactly?" Tobirama asks, turning to Sakura. "I noticed he was staring at you during the treaty signing today. He did seem to be a bit... out of it." His eyes narrow a bit.

Sakura reaches her hand out for her older brother. Tobirama looks at it for a moment before reaching out and grabbing it, wrapping his larger hand around her smaller one. Sakura probes his chakra with her own, pulling a bit to the surface. His light blue chakra, all misty like water floats around him in intricate swirls, a testament to how calm and relaxed he was.

Sakura's covered in her light purple chakra, just staring at him with knowing eyes.

Tobirama's eyes stare at their hands with an impassive look on his face, trying to decipher what she was saying. It's Hashirama that spoke up, "His chakra? There is something wrong with Izuna's chakra?"

Sakura nods. "No more control...I think." She burrows into her elder brother's warmth, looking up at him with bright green eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hashirama pulls her close, kissing the top of her head. "It's not your fault, little blossom. You did what you could to help him. It's because of you that he's alive now."

"Yeah," Tobirama says slowly, eyebrows pulling together. "But at what cost? Uchiha and Senju are similar in their pride in their abilities as shinobi. Izuna is the younger brother of the clan leader, to no longer be able to control his chakra is probably one of the greatest forms of insult for a shinobi. I'm not sure I would want to live unable to control my chakra."

"Tobi..." Sakura says softly, not liking what her brother was saying. She frowns deeply.

Hashirama doesn't appear to like it either. "I understand," he says grimly. "But I don't believe death is the only way. Life doesn't have to revolve around chakra. Just because you don't have it anymore doesn't mean your life is forfeit. I don't like hearing you talk like that, Tobirama."

"I know you may not," Tobirama says, keeping his voice even, "but it's the truth of life. It's impossible, perhaps only to me, that having this power and losing it, is a lot to just lose. I'm not going to say that I would just end it or anything, but it would be hard to live without being able to control my chakra and do the things that I had been able to do all my life."

"But it shouldn't have to be this way, I know that it would be hard," Hashirama says slowly, then his eyebrows pull together, "I suppose I wouldn't be able to imagine how it would be being unable to use my chakra, but I'm sure there are other things in life worth living for. Chakra and shinobi life isn't the only things."

"I understand that, brother, but for me, at least, I don't think I'd want to live without being able to use my chakra," Tobirama says, squeezing Sakura's hand tightly, but looking over her head at Hashirama. "If I am unable to be a shinobi, there is literally nothing left for me. I have no other skill sets outside of shinobi life nor do I believe I would be able to learn any at this point in my life."

"It's never too late to expand your horizon, Tobirama," Hashirama says, voice rising a bit in distress. "It might be unbelievably difficult but people live without having access to their chakra each and every day and they make it through it."

"The only people I've ever met that don't use chakra is either a choice of theirs or they were born without it," Tobirama says sharply. "It's one thing to chose to live without it and to not have it at all opposed to having it and losing it. There is a colossal difference."

Hashirama's mouth snaps shut as he stares at Tobirama, looking greatly unhappy, almost pained by his little brother's words. Sakura's eyes tear up, not wanting to think about her brother ending his life over the loss of his chakra. Sakura would sooner fix what's wrong with Izuna rather than listen to any more of this conversation. Dallia's death hit Sakura hard as a little girl. If anything happened to Hashirama or Tobirama, Sakura would be inconsolable. These were her brothers. Her family.

She doesn't want to lose either of them.

Like Hashirama said, Sakura had no idea how to imagine life without chakra. She didn't use it a lot, but it was something that was always there. She can't imagine it suddenly being gone. She can't imagine Izuna's pain if he really has no more control over his chakra.

"Let us agree to disagree, brother," Tobirama says slowly, staring at Hashirama, seeing how obviously upset the older man is. "I'm sorry, that's not what you want to hear. The lucky thing is that we don't have to deal with it. Neither you, myself or Sakura, have that issue."

"But Madara and Izuna do..." Sakura says softly, sniffling loudly with a few tears sliding down her cheeks. She never would have brought this up had she thought this would be where the conversation would turn to.

Tobirama finally looks down at her, letting out a long winded sigh. "Come here," he says gruffly, unhappy as well, tugging Sakura's hand until she pulls away from Hashirama to settle against Tobirama's side. He pets the top of her head, murmuring an apology into her hair before looking up at Hashirama and apologizing to him as well, which he accepts with a nod and a wane smile.

"What will be done about Izuna Uchiha?" one of the elders asks quietly.

Hashirama shakes his head. "I don't know. We have to wait until Madara brings it up, I suppose. He and Izuna are the only ones that can decide what to do." The gathered Senju look around the room at each other, no one knowing what else to say, other than to just wait. And no one appeared happy about that.

Sakura wipes the rest of her tears away and looks up at Tobirama, climbing up onto her knees to wrap her arms around Tobirama's neck, whispering to him. "I don't want Tobi to die."

Tobirama pets down Sakura's hair. His face is impassive but his voice is soft as he says, "I'm not going to die now. Don't worry yourself with that. I'm fine, you're fine, Hashirama's fine. Everyone's fine for now."

Sakura lays her head down on Tobirama's shoulder, eyebrows pulling together in worry, remembering the look on Izuna's face throughout the entire treaty signing ceremony. "Izuna isn't..." Sakura whispers, closing her eyes.

 

The Uchiha showed up about an hour before nightfall. Just as predicted, they were tense and on edge, looking around the compound with curious but weary eyes. The Senju clan set up many sitting areas and laid out the feast, and put up torches for when night came. In the arms of some of the Uchiha women were bowls of some of their own food to add to the feast.

Leading the group was Madara and Izuna. The latter of the two looking tired and pale, but walked with his usual grace and lethality. Madara is the picture of complete and utter calmness, as is Hashirama. The two walk toward each other like they weren't sworn enemies not so long ago and shake hands in greeting. Everyone else just looks at the other side with curious yet worried eyes, not knowing how to really size each other up. It's difficult to look at each other without malicious intents anymore.

Sakura stands beside Tobirama between the two clan leaders, who were shaking hands, and the Senju elders lined up behind them. Naturally, Tobirama's face is as impassive as always, looking around at the edgy Uchiha in front of him while Sakura was grinning almost as brightly as Hashirama.

"Welcome, Madara, fellow Uchiha, I hope the travel was swift and safe?" Hashirama asks after he and Madara stop shaking hands.

"It was fine," Madara says. "Thank you for inviting us for this dinner. We greatly appreciate it. As a token of our gratitude, we've brought some of our own dishes."

"I can't wait!" Hashirama says, smiling at the Uchiha passed Madara. "Welcome, friends, please, find a seat anywhere. Clansmen, be accommodating and welcoming to our new friends."

"Hai, Lord Hashirama," the Senju clan chorus, tipping a bit of a bow, respectfully.

"Uchiha," Madara says, twisting a bit at the waist to look over at his own fellow clansmen, "be thankful and mindful of your manners."

"Hai, Lord Madara," the Uchiha clan chorus, mimicking the action of the Senju but in respect to their own clan leader.

One of the eldest women in the village, Sakura, Hashirama and Tobirama's Aunt the wife of Kotama, steps up to Hashirama. "May I announce something pertaining to dinner preparations, my lord?"

Hashirama nods. "You may, Aunt Lia."

"Everyone, the food is going to be done soon, until then mingle around as much as you can. Uchiha that prepared dishes, these long tables here," she gestures to the tables lined with food, "can hold any and all food you've brought with you, just put them anywhere. And just a reminder for my clansmen and just so you know, Uchiha, there is no eating until all the food is done, you hear?" She looks around at everyone with narrowed blue eyes.

The Senju chuckle, looking around at each other, knowing that the woman before them is legendary for beating down young men for trying to steal food before everything's done. The Uchiha look around at each other, curiously, not sure what the reaction meant.

It's at that moment that Lia turns her sharp gaze toward Sakura, eyes narrowing more. "That means you too, little princess. Should those little fingers get the itch to steal, for their sake, I hope you can reign in the urge."

Sakura's eyes widen slightly, her right hand curling up into a fist, feeling ghost pains on her fingers from a very hardy wooden spoon. Her left hand comes up to cover the corner of her eyes, trying to hide from the woman in a classical act of: if I can't see you, you can't see me. Lia looks at the young Senju completely unamused, as apposed to Sakura's eldest brother who was grinning broadly.

He lets out a hardy laugh. "Don't worry yourself, Auntie, Tobirama and I will keep an eye on her."

"Where have I heard that before, Hashirama-sama?" Lia says, looking back over at the young lord. "Regardless, thank you for allowing me to speak."

Hahsirama smiles kindly at the older woman, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You're welcome, Aunt Lia, and thank you too. As she said, please take some time to mingle before dinner is done. Thank you, nothing more from me. Madara?"

The black haired clan leader shakes his head. "No."

 

So there is some mingling. Somewhat. At first, at least.

There was a clear separation between the Uchiha and Senju. They were in random little groups around the tables, some sitting, but there wasn't any intermixing of the clans. The two clan leaders, along with their siblings; Sakura, Tobirama, and Izuna, were all gathered around the head table.

"This is horrible," Hashirama says softly, eyes wide, looking around at the small clumps of the two clans scattered around the area. "There isn't a single group of mixed clansmen."

Sakura shakes her head, knowing what her brother was saying. Tobirama, Madara and Izuna all have a strange look on their faces, almost completely identical. They all look at Hashirama with shared exasperated expressions. Izuna's, by far, appears to be the most annoyed.

"We're Uchiha," Izuna says blandly, staring at Hashirama on the opposite side of Madara from the Senju clan leader. He was as far away from Hashirama, Tobirama and Sakura as he could be without leaving Madara alone with them.

Hashirama looks at him, confused. "Uh, yeah..." He blinks innocently, not seeming to understand what the younger Uchiha brother was trying to say.

"We are a mixed group of Uchiha and Senju, brother," Tobirama says drolly, rolling his eyes.

Sakura nods, twirling the bottom of her bangs, smiling. Hashirama looks embarrassed, tanned skin darkening in embarrassment.

"Oh," he says, "well, there's that. But I mean other people! Not just us. Somebody needs to bridge the gap that's separating everybody. Don't you think, Tobi?"

Tobirama nods, looking around with keen red eyes. "Yes," he finally says, "unfortunately, brother, you can't just force someone to get along with other people. You just have to put them into the position where they can and hope for the best."

"Sagely as always," Hashirama says with mirth. He smiles at Tobirama, making the younger Senju brother roll his eyes. Hashirama then turns to look at Sakura, making his eyes grow wide. "What are we going to do, Sakura-chan? How are we going to help bridge the gap?"

Sakura taps her chin in thought before looking around for her friend. She spots Momo talking with two other cousins of theirs. She bounces over to Momo and grabs her hand, tugging it a bit.

"Sakura-sama," Momo says, brown eyes wide, "is there something that you need?"

"Dance," Sakura says, pulling the slightly shorter girl over to the band, who was playing softly a few feet away from the head table. They were just playing softly, making mood music. It was nothing complex or uplifting in any way, the Senju clan wasn't known for their musical talent. Sakura spins Momo around a bit, which was a bit awkward since they were both about the same height.

At first, Momo seemed a little uncomfortable, but then she just let go and Sakura and Momo were spinning around each other, dancing out of sync with the music, forcing the musicians to speed up in order to make it look a little bit better. Sakura and Momo both held hands and spin around in circles, looking at each other with bright eyes and huge smiles on their faces. They were drawing the attention of the two gathered clan members.

Sakura looks around at the curious eyes of the two gathered clans. Sakura spots an young Uchiha girl with long dark brown hair, just watching, that was about Sakura's age. She bounces over to the girl and as she drew closer the girl suddenly looked alarmed.

"No, it's okay," she says once Sakura grabs her hand, she leans back a bit, as if worried Sakura was going to suddenly going to go wild and attack her. "No, really, it's fine. I don't want to dance." She was taller than both Momo and Sakura. The pink haired girl pulls the young Uchiha over to Momo, who looked almost as uncomfortable as the black eyed girl did. Sakura tries to spin the Uchiha around, but the young girl seemed very uncomfortable as she turned awkwardly around. She appeared to wish to be anywhere in the world then where she was right then and there.

Sakura kept doing it, switching off between Momo and the Uchiha girl, until their spins were a little more natural. Then, Momo took Sakura's hand and spun her around. Momo relaxed a bit, probably because Sakura was there with her, and the two Senju girls began to dance a lot more relaxed. Sakura made sure not to let go of the Uchiha girl's hand lest she try to sneak away.

The young Uchiha looks around embarrassed but smiles a bit, trying to loosen up. The song stops and a new one starts and this time Momo and the Uchiha girl look at each other, realizing what Sakura was doing and both seem to agree to tentatively play along.

They all wanted this to work. It may be awkward and they are definitely the center of attention, but they all wanted the fighting to be over. They all lost a lot of people and just wanted to finally put their bloody past behind them. Once and for all. Sakura is so proud of both girls, regardless of how uncomfortable they both appear, that they are trying to make it work.

It didn't take long for them to get tired of just spinning around, but none of them stopped. They were going to do what they could to show Uchiha and Senju could be together without fighting. After three songs, they finally stop, too tired to continue.

They finally stop dancing, all out of breath, looking at each other. After a minute or two, Momo finally, awkwardly, holds out a hand to the Uchiha girl, smiling thinly. "Um, I'm Momo. Uh, Senju, but you probably already know that." She laughs sheepishly, it dies out a few seconds later into a strange silence befalls them. The Uchiha girl hesitates for a split second before taking Momo's hand and shakes it.

"Kikiyo," the other girl says, "uh, Uchiha." They both laugh a bit at each other.

"Sakura," Sakura says, laying her hand over the two girls'. She moves them up and down doing a three way shake. She grins brightly at the two girls when they look at her. After a few moments, the two girls smile back at her. "Water?" she asks, looking between the two girls. "Water?"

Kikiyo looks at Sakura. "Do I want water? Is that what you're asking?" Sakura nods. A quick glance over at Momo. "Um, sure. Thank you."

Sakura nods again, pulling her hand away and turning around to go grab some cups with water. As usual, one of her clansmen, which in this case was Momo, explained how 'special' Sakura was. The young girl returns with the water and they all drink up, in the corner of her eye, she can see Hashirama beaming proudly at her and a single nod from Tobirama showing that he was pleased by her actions. After the show was over, the groups turned back into themselves to whisper about what they had seen. There was a few awkward glances thrown between the Senju and the Uchiha, but they also managed to share a few smiles, hoping to silently apologize for the strangeness.

Once dinner time was called, Sakura pulled Kikiyo over to the head table, sitting her beside Sakura. Momo had ditched them a few minutes earlier to go help move the rest of the food.

"I don't think I should be here," Kikiyo kept saying, looking around at the large table surrounded by the clan leaders, their seconds, and the elders of both clans. "Why are we here? Shouldn't we sit at a different table?" Kikiyo asks Sakura softly, black eyes wide in worry.

Sakura tilts her head, pointing to Hashirama with wide, innocent large green eyes. "Aniki."

"Aniki..." Kikiyo murmurs, glancing up at Hashirama for a split second before surprise and horror crosses her face. She tries to awkwardly bow to Sakura. The pink haired girl smiles obliviously, tilting her head more to the side.

"Sakura," Tobirama says, looking over at the pink haired girl, "eat your greens."

Sakura shakes her head in negative, pouting. "No."

"Do it," he says simply, taking a bite of his own, as if to prove a point. Hashirama smiles around his own bite of greens.

"They're good, Sakura," Hashirama says, chewing softly. Sakura groans loudly, looking at her eldest brother, making a pitiful face at him hoping for sympathy. Unfortunately, the long brown haired man is immune to her puppy-dog eyes when it comes to eating her food. It works every other time, so this sucks. Being ignored by her sucker elder brother, makes Sakura pout.

"Eat, Sakura," Tobirama says, not looking at her.

"No," Sakura whines. He lays his chop sticks down and reaches over with his left hand to pinch her nose closed. Sakura makes a distressed noise, wrapping a small hand around Tobirama's wrist. "No, Tobi, no," Sakura says nazily.

"In front of guests or not, I don't care," Tobirama says simply. "Hashirama may let you get away with your horrible diet, but I wont. Eat. They're good for you. You can't have any treats without eating everything on your plate first."

Sakura whines again. "Tobi," she says, "I don't want to, Tobi."

Tobirama's soulless, sister-hating red eyes stare back at Sakura blankly. "Open." With his right hand, he picks up her chop sticks and holds the little green food to Sakura's lips. Sakura shakes her head. Well, as much as she can with Tobirama's fingers pinched around her little nose. "Open up and eat, or suffocate and pass out. Choose."

"Tobirama," Hashirama says, eyebrows pulled together a bit, "don't make her pass out at the table. We have guests."

Tobirama ignores him. "Eat, Sakura," he says. "You don't get a free-b because we have guests."

Sakura groans again, but has to open her mouth to breath. Tobirama waits until she's taken a few breathes before sticking the food into her mouth and releasing her nose, pulling back.

"Don't you dare spit that out, Sakura, so help me," Tobirama mutters when Sakura purses her lips to spit the food out. She groans yet again, chews up the food and swallows before making loud, exasperated choking noises, alarming all the Uchiha at the table. Sakura throws herself backward to the floor, closing her eyes and ceases movement.

Kikiyo, right next to Sakura, looks between the two, completely unaffected brothers of the girl and the unmoving body of the green eyed Senju. "Um...?"

"She's fine," Tobirama says, continuing eating.

Kikiyo looks around at all the other unaffected Senju, eating quietly without looking at the pink haired girl. Madara and Izuna, who were across the table from Sakura and Tobirama, had paused eating and were staring with identical slightly widened eyes. They glance at each other in the corner of their eyes a few times.

"She's pouting," Hashirama says, letting out a little laugh. "Don't worry about her. Sakura-chan," he glances over at the unmoving girl, "don't let bugs crawl in your hand again."

"You'll cry," Tobirama says, closing his eyes and eating.

Sakura shoots up, shaking her hair out panicky, feeling around for any bugs that may have crawled into the locks. "Tobi," she whines, grabbing his left hand and bringing it to her hair. "Tobi..."

He lets out a light sigh before putting his chop sticks down and turns the girl away from him to look at her hair, running his fingers through it for a moment before pulling away. "It's clean." He returns to eating.

Sniffling, Sakura turns back to her food, looking at her white haired brother.

"See, Sakura?" Hashirama asks softly, pausing with some rice half way to his mouth. "If you don't throw yourself around, you won't have to worry about it."

Sakura nods pouting, rubbing a bit of the wetness from her eyes. While choking down her food, she eyes Izuna across from her, who had lowered his eyes and was eating in silence. He appeared to be relaxed, as if there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be. But Sakura could see the shiftiness of his eyes and every time he adjusts his weight from one knee to the other Madara glances over at him from the corner of his eye.

Sakura also noticed that both of her siblings, along with the majority of the Senju elders, kept sneaking glances at the younger Uchiha brother. Either he didn't notice, or he was effortlessly able to ignore their looks for Izuna didn't react. Sakura has to wonder if he really was unable to use his chakra. His face was pale and his fingers weren't as steady as they appeared on first glance. There was a slight tremble to it.

Right before Sakura looks away, back down to her food, black eyes flicker up to meet hers. It was in the short moments that their eyes were locked together that this horrible chill slid down Sakura's spine. His eyes conveyed a lot more than obvious exhaustion. It showed a lack of life, like he was rotting from the inside out. It's one thing to think about the possibilities, but it's one thing to look into the eyes of a man that's lost it all.

Izuna Uchiha had lost his chakra.


	5. What is found

"No."

Sakura turns her head sharply in Hashirama's direction, eyes wide in surprise. Apparently Izuna and Madara hadn't expected that either. They both had identical looks of surprise for the brown haired Senju as well. Tobirama sat by Hashirama's side with his eyes close and face hard set.

"Aniki..." Sakura says softly, blinking wide green eyes.

"I said no, Sakura," Hashirama says evenly, using his clan leader voice. Something he's hardly, if ever, used against Sakura. His kind brown eyes, now hard and even, stare at Madara and Izuna. "I'm sorry, Izuna, Madara, but I cannot allow that. If you want someone to take a look at you, Izuna, I would be happy to help, but Sakura is not allow. I'm sorry."

All the elders, on both sides of the room, tense up, looking between the bewildered Uchiha clan leader and the stoic, stone faced Senju clan leader. The air in the Senju meeting room, surrounded by lit candles, suddenly dropped twenty degrees in seconds. Hashirama, who had been very forthcoming about compromise ever since they retired to work through the minor details of the move and where they would go and how the control structure would look like, suddenly put his foot down when it shifted, somehow, to personal matters.

"What?" Izuna asks, surprised. "It is because of the Senju I am even in this position."

"We were in war, Izuna," Tobirama says sharply, opening his eyes. "In war, people die. You're lucky you did not share such a fate as many Senju had at your hands. And if I recall correctly, we even saved your life while we were still at war. The way I see it, you owe us."

Izuna's eyes narrow dangerously. "I never asked help from you or any Senju."

"Izuna," Madara says warningly, having finally stared getting over his shock.

"You're brother did," Tobirama says, narrowing his own eyes. "And unless I am mistaken, he is your leader."

Izuna growls deep in his throat, pale, tired face reddening in anger. "Do not presume to know anything about me or the Uchiha clan, you damned forest dweller. I don't expect a clan that grew up in the sticks to understand anything."

Sakura gasps, hand covering her mouth. The Senju clan elders look taken back at the Uchiha derogatory phrase for them. The Uchiha elders look a mixture of displeased and worried, not liking the sudden jerk downward this meeting is heading.

"How very original," Tobirama snarls. "My sister saved your worthless life, Izuna Uchiha, and you have enough barbaric pride to slander her family name in her own presence? After asking yet another favor of her?"

"Izuna!" Madara snaps, looking over at his younger brother.

"She messed up to begin with," Izuna growls. "If she had done it right, we would not be in this position."

"Izuna!" Madara snaps again, but this time reaches out and grabs the back of Izuna's neck, forcing him down into a submissive bow before the younger Uchiha could react. His hands moved to floor in front of his face, stopping it from slamming into the wood but trembled at the pressure behind Madara's grip. Izuna grunts at the sudden force of his brother's actions.

"Shut up," Madara hisses, glaring at the side of his little brother's head, even though the boy couldn't see. But judging by the tensing of his shoulders, he definitely felt it.

"Enough," Hashirama says softly, but there is a touch of a dangerous tone to it. Obviously, he's unhappy by the entire exchange. The tone of the dark haired man is so different from what all of them expected from the normally kind hearted clan leader, that even Madara looked up at Hashirama wearily. "Enough, Izuna," Hashirama says again, staring down at the forcefully bowed younger Uchiha.

After a small nod from Hashirama, who's face was eerily blank, Madara lets Izuna up, giving him a warning look to his little brother before turning to Hashirama.

"Hashirama," Madara stares but Hashirama shakes his head, holding up a hand to silence his childhood friend.

Large, blank brown eyes flicker between Madara and Izuna. "I want to explain something to both of you. I want both of you to understand why I am saying no. It's nothing malicious toward the Uchiha that I say that. It's nothing malicious toward Izuna that I say that. I get no pride from seeing anyone getting hurt. There is nothing in this for me, do both of you understand?"

Neither respond, just stare back at quiet-spoken Senju leader. Sakura, who was sitting to Hashirama's left, turns to look at her brother, hands still covering her mouth and eyes still wide.

Hashirama puts a hand on the top of Sakura's head, looking at her for a long moment before turning his gaze back to the two other brothers. "You're both young bachelors so I doubt you know this, so allow me to enlighten you about something that I came to learn about in depth after we had already returned from the Uchiha main camp." He pulls his hand away from the top of Sakura's head and leans his elbows on his knees. "Tobi, what did we have the night following our return?" he asks, not looking at his brother, eyes still locked on the Uchiha.

"A meeting with the elders," Tobirama says simply, now that Hashirama is in control of the situation his voice has evened out. The elders shift, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"They were informed of the scar on Sakura's chest and instead of saying anything along the lines of that she did a good job or if she was okay. They were adamant about informing me..." Hashirama trails off, his eyebrows pulling together and a look of anger flickers across his face. He takes a few moments to steady his breathing before looking up at Izuna with cold eyes. "They told me that when Sakura, in your words, messed up healing you, and got that huge scar across her chest that contributed to saving your life, she became..."

Hashirama suddenly looks pissed, as if the mere memory of all of this is heightening his anger, both of his hands curl up into fists and his eyes narrow, obviously having taken great offense to Izuna's words. Everyone in the room shifts wearily. Hashirama was not an angry person and for most, this was their first time seeing him mad. No, he wasn't mad. He was pissed.

"She became a woman with depreciated value," Hashirama growls, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Depreciated value." Hashirama says again, as if he couldn't even believe his own words. "All because she saved your life, incorrectly, by your standers, she is no longer referred to as a person, but as something that has lost value because of a wound she had absolutely nothing to do with. I am sorry for your loss of ability to use your chakra, Izuna," Hashirama says evenly, hands finally relaxing, "but forgive me for not being sympathetic enough to not put my sister's future chances at happiness before you being able to breath fire at my clansmen that you so hate."

Izuna clenches his jaw, having nothing to say to that. Hashirama couldn't be fooled. He knew that Izuna still held great hatred for the Senju and yet he still allowed such a man into his home. After dinner, the elders and the clan leaders, along with their second in commands, Izuna and Tobirama, retired to the clan meeting room while the rest of their clans were trusted to mingle. Sakura followed along, wanting to be part of this too. Now they're here and Sakura almost wished that she was somewhere else.

"My little sister is beautiful," Hashirama says softly, as if greatly pained. "She could marry any man and live the most lavished life she could have ever wanted. But then, she got a horrible scar across her chest trying to save your life, and you aren't even grateful for it! Now, she will be lucky to marry a feudal lord in a small province and that's only because she's my little sister. I'm told to expect nothing better for her. Do you even understand that?"

Neither spoke. Hashirama didn't appear to even care whether they did or didn't. He was physically distraught.

"This is a cruel time for women," he says softly, looking over at Sakura, reaching out and tucking a loose strand of long pink hair behind her ear. "I only want the best for my siblings. No woman could keep up with Tobirama and no man could ever be good enough for my little Sakura." He sighs, dejectedly. "Now, she will have to settle for someone who may never treat her well... or stay with Tobirama and I forever." He shakes his head. He lets out a long winded sigh before looking over at Izuna with hard dark brown eyes. "All because of the scar on her chest, now she will have to settle for sub-par and it just..."

The hard look on his face melts, as if he didn't have the strength to uphold it anymore. But the pain shows in all of Hashirama's features. His contorted face, hung head, and bowed shoulders. Izuna's lack of appreciation toward what his sister lost hurts him. Izuna looks away, suddenly appearing ashamed.

"Do you want to help Izuna, Sakura?" Tobirama asks. His voice is even, nonjudgmental. He wants her honest opinion. As if he didn't already know the answer.

Sakura tilts her head, looking at the younger Uchiha brother, feeling partly responsible for the duress he's under. She looks between Madara and Izuna a few times before settling her gaze on the little brother and smiling kindly at him. "Help Izuna? Yes!" Izuna hadn't returned his gaze to her but flinches at her words, as if they physically brought him pain.

"Fine," Madara says, straightening up his posture, glancing over at the back of Izuna's head while his brother was turned away. Madara looks over at Sakura, level black eyes meeting hers. "Sakura, can you fix my brother? Let him use his chakra again?"

Sakura taps her chin in thought, not really having a definite answer for that. But something in her gut tells her that there is a chance that she can at least help. And she had been thinking a lot about that strange black thread like thing in both Madara's and Izuna's brains. She would like to take another look at them and get rid of it, if she can. No, if Izuna wants his power back, then Sakura needs to take something.

Transference is the art of healing in the form of taking something. Like the wound and infection in Izuna. They took something from him and it ultimately healed him. That's how this ability works. And just like all things, this knowledge just comes to her. She doesn't know if it'll fix all of Izuna's problems, getting rid of that curse coursing through him, but it might be more dangerous leaving it there regardless.

And the same with Madara. His curse appeared to not be active, and if it was, it wasn't as powerful as Izuna's. Still, Sakura worried about that, wondering what it was doing. She remembered listening to Hashirama as a young girl reading about curses from an old book that one of the Senju brought back. As far as she remembers, there was nothing in it about a curse that affected brothers, but it can't be coincidence that they both have it, does it? That is, if it is the same curse on both brothers. But what are the chances that both of them were cursed with different curses? Sakura didn't know a lot about curses or odds, but she doubted the chances.

Sakura hums softly, looking at Madara with a tilted head. "Um...?" She says, then shrugs, gesturing to Izuna.

"She'd have to see him," Tobirama says, then sighs a bit. Izuna made him uncomfortable. Not because they have been enemies since they were children, that's only a tiny part of it, but the fact that Izuna hates Senju. He hates them. Tobirama can understand that hatred - to an extent. Everyone wants the war and the hate to be over. Except for Izuna. He doesn't appear to want the war to end at all.

Izuna glances over at Madara with hooded dark eyes, silently pleading with his brother. Madara stares at him for a long time before turning to look over at Hashirama.

"It wouldn't be so bad to have Sakura stay close, eh, Hashirama?" Madara says simply, voice even.

Hashirama stares at him blankly, as if he didn't understand the question. "Um, yes? In a perfect world, I suppose."

Madara nods. "Depending on who Sakura marries, she could go anywhere in the world in order to be both happy and forge alliances. Because, you're right, in this day and age, it's not easy for woman. I've heard the muttered grievances of the women of my clan, so while I'll never claim to completely understand, I am not ignorant to such a fact," Hashirama is nodding slowly, listening, "but here is my proposal: if Sakura can do something, anything to help Izuna, then I will take Sakura as my bride."

The Uchiha and Senju elders all start talking at once. The Uchiha aren't outraged - because if they were that would be extremely dumb to express in front of the opposite clan - but they were voicing their protests by calling out to Madara. Izuna's eyes widened and his face drains of color at the mere prospect while Hashirama and Tobirama both share shocked looks. The Senju clan elders were a mixture of weary for the new alliance and excited because, if it all works out, it does both solidify the relationship with the Uchiha and marries the Senju clan leader's little sister to a powerful clan that was previously not in the drawing cards.

"Brother," Izuna says, shaking his head slightly, dropping his voice a bit, "are you sure about this? I'm sure there is something else that can be offered."

"With no offense to Lady Sakura," one of the Uchiha elders says slowly, tipping his head a bit to the pink haired girl, "but isn't she a bit... young?" Why did that word not sound like the one he wanted to use?

Admittedly, Sakura was a little short for someone her age and regardless of all the junk she eats, she's still pretty skinny and had the mannerisms of a child sometimes, but she was almost 16 years old. An adult. By the time Hashirama was her age, he was taking over the clan. Or at least he was going to within a few months.

"She will be 16 in about four months," Tobirama says blandly, looking at the Uchiha. "Is that old enough for you?"

The Uchiha opens his mouth to say - what? Who knows? - but Hashirama turns to Tobirama with a sharp look. "Tobirama, no, not right now." They both stare at each other for a moment, looking into each other's eyes before Tobirama closes his, submitting to the elder Senju brother. Hashirama stares at him for a few more seconds, the look silencing everyone on both sides before turning his gaze toward Madara with a mixed expression. "What are you talking about, Madara?"

The Uchiha clan leader stares at Hashirama with a bit of an exasperated look. "What do you think I'm talking about? We both win. I get help with Izuna, Sakura is married off to a wealthy clan that will look after her and she gets to stay close. So long as this alliance stays strong, she will never be far from you or Tobirama. Which I'd assume is what you'd like."

Hashirama nods slowly. "That is true, but Madara, I'm still not comfortable about this. Not so much Sakura marring you, friend, but the last time she did this, she got hurt."

Madara looks around for a moment, trying to decide what to say. "I understand, Hashirama. Perhaps within boundaries? So long as she isn't hurt this time. Then she can try. Is that okay?"

Hashirama looks like he wants to say no, but turning to look at Sakura's wide green eyes, he sighs. "If there is any chance whatsoever for you to get hurt, Sakura-chan, you can't continue, do you understand?"

Sakura nods, holding a hand out for Izuna. Black eyes flicker between Sakura's small hand and Madara before he slowly, as if pained, reaches out and takes it. Sakura holds out her right hand for Madara to take and after a moment, Madara takes it too. She nods toward the two of them and it takes a second before they both take each other's hands.

"Transference bond already formed between us," Sakura says nodding between the two of them, both of them stare back, making small movements of the head in understanding. She summons up her chakra, first probing Madara's, which comes to life immediately, and then Izuna's. Like before his is small, weak wisps. Just seeing the small light blue plums of chakra makes Izuna huff, annoyed.

All of their chakra melds together and Sakura whispers softly, letting her eyes slide closed, "Transference."

Once again the three of them are brought into this make-shift world that is made of their deepest desires. Like before, Izuna's goes first. It's the same as before, the beautiful woman - the previous Uchiha matriarch - and the four little boys running around the open field. Everything was exactly the same as before.

But this time Sakura kept closer attention to the threads of darkness woven into the scene before her. She followed it with her eyes as it spreads like intricate latticework through the world of Izuna's mind, pulsating softly, sickly. Sakura's green eyes follow it up to Izuna and Madara and noticed two shocking things she hadn't noticed before.

The first being that when the threads get to Izuna, they wrap around his body like thin, microscopic vipers, curling up and around his body in a vice grip. So tightly, it almost appears as though they are just under his skin. Where they are the darkest, is around his eyes. The slight pulsing, that may just be an trick of the eye, seems to either be stemming from his eyes or leading to it. Or both. But when Izuna's eyes flicker over to Sakura, the entire scene darkens, especially around the twin black orbs, making the younger Uchiha brother take on an almost demonic look.

Just looking at him right then and there, Sakura had no doubt that this person was extremely dangerous and even though nothing on the outside of his body changed, the curse grew more prevalent. Like Sakura was triggering it. Just by being there.

The second thing she noticed - because she had to quickly divert her attention, the darkening of the threads leading to Izuna's eyes were growing scary by the second - was that the threads wrapped around Madara as well, but instead of being sickly and black, they were white and clear. Almost like Madara was a healing spot in this entire curse. Like either he was standing on the one place in all of Izuna's mind that wasn't sick, or he was somehow able to keep the curse at bay. At least to some degree.

Once that dream vanishes, it's Sakura's turn again. Her dream has shifted. Sakura is sitting at the end of a long wooden table, all alone on one end. Happily, silently watching as, at the other end of the table, her four brother's sat. Laughing and talking. Older Hashirama and Tobirama sitting across from a young Itama and Kawarama - from the paintings that the brothers showed her of him - all having a wonderful, joyous time. Next to Hashirama is Madara and next to him is Izuna, also laughing and talking, being part of the family. Across from them, next to Kawarama and Itama, is the two other little Uchiha brothers of Madara and Izuna. They were a bit obscure from the distance that Sakura had seen them at, in Izuna's memeory.

Sakura didn't mind watching the four brothers in life, talking and joking with the four brothers in death. In Sakura's eyes, she can't view the eight in total brothers in two separate stages of life. That concept, as Sakura grew older, began to stop making sense to her. She understood the difference between the two, but Sakura never feared death. In her eyes, it was all just another beginning. One day those four little boys would be brought back into the world, one way or another. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.

Just like most things in her life, she just felt it. Knew it deep in her gut. Sakura couldn't just believe that death was the end. How could existence only be measured in a few short years? Sakura couldn't understand it.

Her deepest desire wasn't anything too intricate or deep. It was just that she wanted her brothers, both in life and in death, and Uchiha and Senju, to be happy. She believed in the Will of Fire. She believed her big brother's words and wanted to believe that Izuna could be saved and that whatever that curse was, it was making him hate her family so much. Make it so hard for him to let go of war. But it would never be impossible to change his view on them. One day he could forgive and forget.

Once her dream is over, it's finally Madara's turn again. His vision has also shifted, but only slightly. They appear within a village, there is nothing distinct about any of the buildings, but there are people everywhere. Women and children and men alike. All Uchiha and Senju, wearing their clan clothes proudly and talking in the streets. It was a warm summer's day and the people were bustling about, talking and laughing and smiling at each other. No one was angry. No one was mad. Everyone was just content, happy to be part of this peace and happy to be alive.

Sakura looked again and was shocked to be unable to find the curse. It wasn't until she stooped down to the ground and really stared at it that she was able to see it, so minute and weak, slithering through the rocks, so deep down in Madara's mind that it hardly exists anymore. It's strange. Whereas Izuna's curse seems to have gotten stronger, Madara's has gotten weaker.

This curse was strange.

She looks over at Izuna this time to see, like with Madara - just a lot harder to see - the curse was being nullified by the presence of the unhappy younger Uchiha. It's almost like they were both lifelines for each other. The only barriers that were keeping the curse from consuming one another.

Sakura shudders to think of what would have happened, had she been unable to save Izuna. If such hate, equal to that of Izuna's, was directed at her brother Tobirama was also directed at Hashirama...

She doubted the peace, if there ever was one, could last very long at all.

Once the vision is over, the three of them jolt back into their own bodies again. And like before, probably only a few seconds passed on the outside world as the room sat in silence with bated breath. Both Uchiha brothers open their eyes, staring at the frowning Senju girl. She chews on her bottom lip, looking over at Madara, kind of scared to look at Izuna, not wanting to further aggravate the curse.

"Izuna is sick," she tells Madara.

"Really?" Izuna says flatly, but flinches at Madara's sharp look, mouth snapping shut.

"What's wrong with him?" Madara asks.

Tobirama shifts next to Sakura. "Other then the fact that he no longer has any control of his chakra."

Hashirama glares at Tobirama, reaching over to him and punching him in the shoulder, shaking his head, while Izuna glares at the white haired man with a lot more venom than he should.

"Izuna's curse is stronger," Sakura tells him. "Madara's is weaker now."

Madara stares at her blankly for a moment, processing the words before, he and Izuna in unison demand, "What curse?" The Uchiha clan elders lean forward too, looking unhappy about something hindering their clan leader and current heir.

Sakura shakes her head. She doesn't know what the curse is, or what exactly it's doing, but her - and probably every other Senju she'd guess - aggravated it, while Madara calmed it in him. Madara's didn't seem active, but even so, it was soothed by Izuna's presence as well.

Sakura looks down at their hands and starts pulling the curse from both of them into herself. Both Uchiha jump and shake, as if someone had dumped cold water down their backs, it takes Sakura squeezing her hands tightly around theirs to make sure they don't pull away and break the transference for them to settle back into place. Sakura keeps on pulling, watching in horror as both of the undersides of their wrists open up and the curse began creeping out.

Izuna's was an inky black, all slimy and bubbling as it's pulled from him. It looked more aggravated than before, like Sakura's physical touch on the body made it further active. Madara's was a pale gray color, shiny but not bubbling. Everyone, especially Madara and Izuna, leans in and looks at the two physical embodiments of this 'curse' being pulled from their bodies.

The curse is pulled up Sakura's arms, slowly. She pauses and shakes her arms around, trying to get her long sleeves out of the way. Hashirama pulls up her sleeves to her shoulders, tying them behind her back. Sakura grins at him cutely, in thanks - which he returned with an uncomfortable wane smile - before continuing to pull the curse out. It was probably two minutes into the extraction when both Uchiha in front of Sakura shiver, shaking their heads. Izuna rubs his face against his shoulder while Madara turns his face upward and blinks rapidly.

"What's wrong, Madara?" Hashirama asks tentatively.

"My eyes..." Madara says, glaring at the wood for a moment, then blinks rapidly again. He looks over at Sakura. "Is that suppose to happen?"

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. She didn't know. She was basically making all of this up as she went along. These people are putting a lot of faith in her and her strange abilities. Now, she's glad that she can help them out but she doesn't know how any of this could end. It's all just feelings in the pit of her gut that she's following. Her gut also told her that greens were nothing good for her, regardless of what Tobirama says, but she is still forced to go against it. So, how is she to know what to expect?

These people are crazy.

"Stop?" Sakura asks, looking around the room.

"No!" Izuna says, turning his head toward his brother, eyes wide. "Please, aniki."

Madara's shoulder droop because of Izuna. It's probably a mixture of the word 'aniki' and his large, pleading black eyes that makes the Uchiha clan leader bow his shoulders inward a bit in defeat. Sakura looks between them with large green eyes, able to see just how close the two of them were. Very little seems to over power Madara and what he wants but Izuna seems to have the leader wrapped around his little finger.

Madara sighs, looking over at Sakura. "Please continue, Sakura."

Sakura nods, glancing over at Hashirama, who still looks a bit pensive, and waits for his small nod of approval before continuing.

After another minute of silently pulling the curse out, Hashirama softly asks, "is that hurting you?"

Sakura shakes her head. Hashirama nods a bit again for her to continue, so Sakura does, turning her attention back to the curse and removing it from the two brothers. Another minute passes and then Izuna and Madara both jerk again. Sakura glances up from their wrists to see both of their eyes flickering red.

"Madara," Hashirama says softly, but there is a hint of warning in his voice.

"It's not me, Hashirama," Madara say gruffly, glaring at the brown haired man. "I... I can't control it." He bites off those words like they brought him physical pain. He lets out a little huff.

Sakura pauses again and the flickering in their eyes stops as well. Madara and Izuna share looks.

"This curse is affecting the Sharingan?" One of the Uchiha elders says, black eyes wide. "Could this be the key to unlocking the abilities beyond the Mangekyo?"

One of the Senju elders looks worried, stealing glances at an equally unhappy Tobirama. "There is something beyond the Mangekyo?"

Another Uchiha elder responds, "Supposedly," without really looking at him. He's more interested in watching how this all plays out.

Sakura continues and eventually the red Sharingan appears, one tomoe at first. Then two, then three. In both Uchiha brothers. Then, both of their eyes change again. Mangekyo, one of the Senju elders murmured under his breath. Both were different, and gave Sakura pause to get a good look at them.

Madara's Mangekyo was like the tomoes elongated and connected and opened in the center of the circular part of the tomoe for a red circle to appear. The tail of the top tomoe connects to the circle of the next tomoe two more times after that. Creating three large tomoe circling the black pupil in the center.

Izuna's Mangakyo had a red pupil in the center with a large black circle surrounding it and three black prongs coming straight out. One on the top and one on each side pointed down at an angle.

They were both unique and beautiful in their own right. But there is no doubt that they are dangerous. She's heard the horror stories of a lot of her clansmen that have seen people fall to the Sharingan. But this was the first time that she had actually seen it in person. But as dangerous and devastating as they are, they are still beautiful.

Sakura shakes her head and continues going, feeling the remaining curse in both brothers. It's mostly out by this point but there is still a bit left. She didn't know anything about the Sharingan, whether this was some key to a more advanced version of the Sharingan or not, she didn't know, but what she did know was that anything was possible in the world. She didn't know how the world worked, other than it was full of surprises. If it wasn't, she wouldn't have been brought to her brothers. However the fates made that happen, she still didn't know. But she was thankful.

Another two minutes pass with the elders of the two clans whispering amongst themselves and their eyes start to change again and everyone leans in close as the Mangekyo in both of the brother's eyes start to morph again, but this time it's weird morphing. The colors stay black and red but the designs keeps shifting in both of their eyes.

Sakura splits her attention in half. Half is focused on pulling the curses out of both brothers, while the other half diverted to watching the mesmerizing shifting in both of the brothers' eyes. As the last of the curse is being pulled out, with the exception of the clean, pure pieces that's connected to the held hands of the two brothers, worried on what that may do to their relationship if it's removed, their eyes begin to settle.

Right as Sakura severs the pure piece from the blackened out curse and removes it from their bodies, all three of them jerk. Madara and Izuna's eyes flash black as Sakura's eyes flash with the red Mangekyo. Izuna's in her right eye and Madara's in her left and then in one blink both are gone and the two brother's eyes turn into two strange variations of their Mangekyo but with their own pattern mixed with the opposite brother's.

Madara's original Mangekyo is predominant, almost as if it's in front of what appears to be the three prongs that came from Izuna's sharingan. And Izuna's is predominantly his own with the reddened out tomoe like shapes reminiscent of Madara's in his eyes.

"Your sharingans are different, Madara," Hashirama says softly, eyes wide. Madara and Izuna turn to look at each other and both pairs of new eyes widen, studying the other pair. Even if it was just for a few seconds holding two different sharingan in her eyes drained her chakra like a missing bottom to a cup. She sags a bit in exhaustion from having her chakra forcefully pulled from her. Sakura musters up some of the last of her strength and reaches inside of Izuna, feeling along the chakra pathways.

The new sharingan formation brought upon a new advancement in his chakra system. Enhancing his fire chakra with Madara's significantly while Madara's increases only slightly in comparison. Out of the two of them, Madara's chakra still burns the hottest.

Izuna's control over his chakra appears to be shot, but just by looking, Madara's chakra has entered Izuna's and is flowing through his pathways and aren't just disappearing, it's being contained, which is a good sign.

Sakura pulls her hands back, breaking the connection. The three of them jerk again, before Izuna is forced to turn off his sharingan, not able to maintain it any longer without his chakra control being as it once was. She turns her attention to her next issue, the curse wrapped up both her arms. One a dark, inky black, while the other was a dull gray all the way up both her arms.

She pulls the two separate curses off her long, pale limbs. They try and hold on, all sticky and slimy as Sakura pulls them off and throws them onto the ground away from everyone and keeps puling at them until both of her arms are completely rid of the curse. "Hashirama-ani," Sakura says, stepping away the wiggling snake-like masses on the ground, "burn, please."

A few simple, swift hand signs and it was done.

Sakura looks over at Izuna and tilts her head. "Chakra?"

Izuna blinks a few times, as if the single word didn't compute with him, before looking down at his hands and concentrating. A crease forms between his eyebrows as he tries to summon up his chakra. His lack of control coupled with nearly all of it being sucked out by his new Sharingan leaves Sakura worrying about whether this will be a bleak outcome or not.

After twelve long seconds with bated breath, the chakra appears, wrapping around his hand as if it had never left. Sakura suspected connecting with someone as spiritually powerful as Madara, must have healed whatever was wrong with Izuna. Perhaps the switching of the Sharingans had something to do with it as well, Sakura wasn't sure, but it appears as though his chakra is back.

Madara reaches out and grabs Izuna's hand, inspecting the chakra with the new Sharingan before he deactivates it. For a split second, a strange look flickers across Madara's face, like he didn't expected it to suck out as much chakra as it did before his face fell neutral once more.

"We'll have to rebuild your control, brother, but I don't see any more problems with it," he says, his eyebrows raise high up to his hairline. Then he looks over at Sakura. "You did it."

"I can't believe it..." one of the elders murmurs.

"Amazing..." another says softly, turning toward a different elder to whisper into his ear.

Izuna closes his hand slowly, a strange look crossing his face. It looks like he's trying to grasp onto something that's no longer there. After a short internal debate, he pushes himself to his feet and walks around the table to Sakura, dropping down to one knee in front of her. Sakura glances down at him with a tilted head.

"Thank you," he says softly, bowing his head. His voice sounds strange. Like all of the anger and rage in his body is gone.

"Ah?" Sakura says, blinking a few times, not sure what else to say.

"I'm not sure what came over me before. I owe you my life. Twice now. I know not how to properly thank you, but I will spend the rest of my life, if I have to, to find out. Will you accept that?"

Even though she's tired, having the transference suck out a bunch of her chakra alongside those two Sharingans, Sakura still felt that she had enough energy left in her body to drop down in front of the younger brother of the Uchiha clan leader and wrap her arms around his neck. His entire body freezes up. "Izuna," she says softly into his ear.

"U-Um... yeah?" His discomfort makes Sakura smile a bit.

"Be happy. No mad, no more."

Izuna's shoulders slump a bit. "Y-Yeah. Okay."

"Then," Hashirama says slowly, smiling kindly over at his little brother and then to his best friend, whose eyes were wide in surprise and locked onto his own little brother, "I suppose there is no one else that opposes this alliance. Then tomorrow, I can show you the place I think would be perfect for us to build a new home for both clans."

It takes a moment for Madara to finally pull his eyes away from Izuna to Hashirama. At first, he seems surprised but then his entire presence relaxes. Hashirama seems positively radiant, seeing the noticeable shift in his best friend's demeanor. Madara looks like a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders that has been hanging over him for so long. He looks visibly relieved.

"Yes," Madara says softly, smiling at an uncomfortable Izuna as Sakura pulls away to laugh sweetly a him, "I do believe that is the only acceptable course of action from here on out."


	6. The duo-eyed girl named Koharu

The next day, Sakura was allowed to come along with her brothers and the Uchiha brothers, along with a dozen clansmen from each clan, to see the land Hashirama had found for them. They went up atop a large mountain that overlooked the land, covered with trees with a few rivers nearby. Hashirama and Madara both murmured to each other about the pros and cons. The fact that it had decent coverage on one side - a "natural defense," Madara said - with access to close rushing water and lots of foliage.

Sakura, with her arms wrapped around Tobirama's waist, stood with her older brother about a foot to the right of her eldest brother, at the edge of the large mountain, staring down at the large open land, covered now with trees, but will one day be their home. To Hashirama's left is Madara and about a foot to his left is Izuna, who was almost as winded as Sakura about the climb but has long since settled down. Big, pitch black eyes taken in the land with wonder, and hope. When Madara glances over him with a slightly worried look, as if wondering if the relatively good mood the younger brother has been in since he regain the ability to use his chakra would suddenly disappear. But it hadn't. Izuna smiles softly at his older brother and nods ever-so-slightly, seemingly pleased with the area as well.

"This is home?" Sakura asks, looking up at Tobirama.

"Yes, imouto-chan," Hashirama says, turning to put a hand on the top of Sakura's head. He smiles brightly. "I think that it is! What do you say, Madara? Tobirama? Izuna? Does this seem like a good enough place?"

"Perfect, Hashirama-ani," Sakura says, smiling up at her eldest brother. She looks up at Tobirama again. "Perfect?"

"Not yet," Tobirama says, in the typical Tobirama way, "but it can be. I think we can all do it together." He nods, more to himself than to Sakura. "It does have a lot of good tactical advantages and natural defenses like Madara said, but it's also a clean slate. Neither of our clans have been to these lands, so it's the perfect place for a fresh start. For all of us."

"I agree," Izuna says slowly, looking around at the place that would be their future home and smiles softly, as if a good thought had come to him. "This will be a good place, I think. Aye, brother?"

"Aye," Madara mumbles. He eyes his brother curiously, like he's still not used to the shifts in Izuna's personality, but not seeming to mind it much. If anything, he appeared more impressed with his brother rather than where their new home would be, but eventually he pulls his eyes away from Izuna to look over the land one more time, before nodding and saying again, "Aye."

"Then it's decided!" Hashirama exclaims, spinning around to look between the two clan representatives. "Here it is, then!" He claps his hands together excitedly. "This will be our new home. Good job everyone!" He smiles brightly. There is murmurs of agreement and some respectful bows.

 

Sakura feels bad for Tobirama, who has to follow her at the back of the crowd, because Sakura is really slow especially when put next to Tobirama. Sakura can say with pride that her brother was the fastest man in the world. Hashirama said so himself. Also with a touch of pride. Yes, no one was Tobirama's biggest cheerleaders than Hashirama and Sakura. He can pretend to be annoyed all he wants, both of them know that he likes that they believe in him.

"Sorry, Tobirama-ani," Sakura says through her harsh breaths, jumping from tree limb to tree limb, trailing behind the bulk of the group. It wasn't just them, though, Izuna wasn't fairing much better than Sakura, he was just a lot more stubborn. Sakura has been staring at the Uchiwa fan on Izuna's back bouncing up and down as he jumps, his shoulder pulling together with exhaustion.

Sakura looks up at Tobirama with big green eyes, silently pleading with him. Both for Izuna's sake and her own. She wasn't as sternly trained to keep up with them and Izuna is still trying to heal from his injuries.

"Keep going, Imouto," Tobirama mutters. "I'll be right back." And with a small nod of confirmation from the pink haired girl, he speeds ahead to the front of the group where no doubt Madara and Hashirama are leading them back home. After a minute or so, the group stops and jumps down to the forest floor. Sakura and Izuna follow after. Once they hit the ground, Izuna leans against the nearest tree to catch his breath while Sakura lays flat on her back on the ground.

"Sakura-chan," Hashirama calls.

Sakura lifts her head to see Hashirama, Tobirama and Madara all standing around a few feet ahead of her.

"Don't let bugs crawl in your hair," Tobirama and Hashirama say in unison. Sakura yelps and jumps up, running over to Hashirama and grabbing his hand, putting it in her hair. She turns around and he runs his fingers through her hair for a moment before pulling his hand out.

"Clean," he says. "Now stop laying on the ground, okay?"

Sakura whimpers, running her hands through the thick pink locks in case some small creepy-crawlies managed to sneak in without Hashirama knowing.

Madara tilts his head slightly, glancing over at Izuna when the younger brother walks up to them before looking back down at Sakura. "Are you scared of bugs, Sakura?"

The pink haired girl nods, pulling her hair over her left shoulder, running her fingers through the wavy, thick strands. She feels all the different layers, letting them slide through her fingers before she looks around the forest. There was a moment of silence before Sakura makes a gesture toward the forest and stares up at Hashirama with wide eyes.

Hashirama stares back down at her blankly before nodding once. "Be quick. Don't get out of Tobi's sensory range."

Sakura nods briskly and darts off into the forest. Tobirama and Hashirama both share a look before turning to look over at the two Uchiha brothers and begin discussing the pros and cons of the new home. They liked a lot of things about it; things that were already mentioned, but some of the cons, or the biggest concern may be that they really have to start from the beginning. Build new homes, find clean water, figure out what to hunt and local fauna. Things of the like, when a scream cuts through the air, making all the men jump.

All members that has gather from both clans, stare at each other with blank looks.

It takes a split second for Hashirama to gasp out, "Sakura."

Tobirama's head snaps in the direction she had walked off, feeling the area with his chakra. He opens his mouth when a yell from the forest can be heard. "Aniki! Aniki! Help!"

Tobirama and Hashirama break off in a dead sprint into the forest, the members of the Senju clan are quick to follow.

Sakura rushes through the forest trying to make her way back to her brothers, trailing behind her, tugging along by their connected hands is a girl about a year or two younger than Sakura. She has long, waist length platinum blond hair, that would have been beautiful if it wasn't all dirty with twigs and dirt twisted into the locks. Her pale skin is dirty and her kimono is ripped and tattered at the bottom and one of the sleeves is ripped off at the mid upper arm. Her right eye is a bright orange and her left eye is bright purple.

There is heavy footfalls following behind them. Sakura drags the panting, wheezing multi-eyed girl behind herself. The girl is missing one shoe and the other is broken. She stumbles, yanking Sakura down after her. Sakura hits her tailbone hard, making her flinch before gritting her teeth and turning toward the girl, pulling the slightly smaller blond to her chest and wrapping her legs around the girl, as if trying to become a shield for her.

"They're coming!" The girl shrieks in Sakura's ear making the pink haired girl flinch again. "We're going to die! I'm so sorry, miss! I didn't mean to get you involved!" She tightly closes her duo colored eyes to hold in her tears. It didn't matter that she wouldn't be able to get up and run since she no longer had sight, she couldn't see through them anyway.

"Aniki!" Sakura calls out, pulling the girl closer.

"I don't want to die, please!" The girl sobs, burying her face into Sakura's shoulder. "Can your aniki help?

"I will," Hashirama says, standing right next to them. The blond jumps, looking up at the brown haired man staring down at them. His eyebrows are pulled in tightly as he kneels down, putting a hand on Sakura's head, his eyes scan her body for injuries. He notes the strange way she's sitting and puts his hand on her lower back, sending healing chakra to her tailbone. Sakura relaxes now that her brother was there.

"You're... you're her brother?" she asks, duo eyes watery. "You can help us?"

Hashirama stares into the girls two different colored eyes before smiling kindly. "Of course. Who's chasing you?"

"Bad people," the girl rasps, eyes wide. Tears spill down the corners of her eyes, sliding down her puffy red cheeks. "They attacked our carriage... my mother, she's still out there! We have to find her! Oh please, sir, please help me! I don't have much but whatever I can, I'll give to you, so please!" She reaches out and grasps his sleeve.

Hashirama frowns, unhappily. But before he can say anything, four men rush through the large bushes a few feet away from them. The girl yelps in fear, reaching out and clutching Sakura close, as if the pink haired girl could protect her.

"Hey buddy," one of them, the pseudo leader, but obviously still a lackey, calls out. He waves his sword around threatening while the other three spread out a bit, trying to flank Hashirama. One to the left, two to the right. "That girl isn't yours."

Hashirama gives him a level stare. "She is not your either. In fact, she is looking for her mother. If you have her, I'll ask that you return her to this young girl and let them be on their way. And if you don't have her, I ask that you halt your pursuit and let them be," Hashirama says smoothly, elegantly rising to his feet. His posture is completely relaxed, but he watches the three other lackeys circling him slowly.

The man scoffs, shaking his head. "Sorry, man, no can do. That girl has to come with us. Someone is paying a lot of money to get this little... gem," he says, lowering his eyes to the blond haired girl. She recoils, as if physically repulsed, curling closer to Sakura. The pink haired Senju wraps her arms tighter around the slightly younger girl, shaking her head and leaning back a bit, putting any distance she can from the man, narrowing her eyes.

Hashirama stares back at him with an unreadable expression. "Is there nothing I can say to convince you to back off?"

The man smiles wickedly, revealing slightly crooked, but otherwise clean appearing, teeth. "Unfortunately no, friend. But, I wouldn't mind taking that pink haired girl," his gaze lowers to Sakura where his smile turns a little more lecherous, "off your hands. For free."

Hashirama's diplomatic attitude disappears immediately. This time, when he speaks, his voice is flat. "I am no friend of yours. And you can't have either of them. It appears as though we will have to do it your way, Madara."

"Good," Madara growls, appearing behind the man. "You are a fool. And now you will die as you've lived: without honor." Hashirama appears in front of the girls, stopping them from seeing anything. Sakura may have been hearing things, but it almost sounded like Madra then said, "You are not aloud to look at her." But before Sakura could ask what he meant, Hashiram's talking to them.

"Come now, miss, let's go find your mother, yes?" He says softly kneeling down in front of them. There is the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Sakura can see, over the girl's head, one of the guys looking surprised, mouth forming the word "Shinobi" before a Senju cousin drops down behind him, swiftly breaking his neck and letting him drop.

Another thump.

And then behind her too.

Another thump.

And then the final one. That's four in total. All four men.

"Thanks you," the girl says softly, fighting the urge to look past him and see what she fears has happened to the dirt bag. "You'll help me find my mother..?"

Hashirama smiles kindly. "Of course, my dear. Can I learn your name?"

The girl wipes her face with the back of her hand. "Yes, um, it's Koharu. Koharu Yata."

"Yata-san," Hashirama says, "I'm happy that you and my imouto are alright. Can you stand?"

The girl blushes, finally extracting herself from Sakura's arms. "Yes, sir. Um, and you can just call me Koharu..."

Hashirama nods. "Very well, Koharu-chan. I'm Hashirama Senju, and this is my little sister, Sakura."

Koharu stares at him blankly for a moment, as if she didn't understand what he had said to her, before her face drains of color and she scrambles quickly to bow on her hands and knees in front of him. "L-Lord Senju! I-I am so sorry! I didn't recognize you at all! Forgive my brashness! I-I am so sorry! Please forgive me!"

"Koharu-chan!" Hashirama says, putting a hand onto the back of her head. "Please sit up so that we can talk." She pauses for a moment before sitting up slowly, looking up at the brown haired clan leader with large, worried eyes. "Koharu-chan, we didn't help you out to make you owe us anything. We helped you out because that's the right thing to do. Now, how about we look for your mother, hm?" He smiles more genuinely.

Koharu blushes deeply and nods. "Yes, my lord..."

"Senju clan," Hashirama calls, looking up toward the trees above them. Sakura follows his gaze and sees her clansmen intermixed with Uchiha up on the tree branches above them. "Scout the forest, find this young lady's mother. Dispatch the enemies."

All of the Senju nod or bow respectfully with a unison, "My Lord!" before shun shining away.

"Uchiha," Madara says, walking over to Hashirama and the two girls, "assist."

"Hai, my lord," the Uchiha say in unison before disappearing as well.

Koharu stares in awe at the Shinobi disappearing before looking over at Sakura and Hashirama. "Th-Thank you for helping me, my lord, my lady. I don't know how to thank you enough for saving my life and looking for my mother. How... how can I ever repay you?"

"Don't worry about that for now," Madara says, stepping up next to Hashirama. "Let's focus on looking for your mother. You don't happen to know what direction you were running from, do you?"

Koharu looks around the forest for a moment before looking up at Madara shamefully, shaking her head slowly. "No, sir..."

"Madara-chan," Sakura says, smiling happily, making the two men and the younger girl look at her in confusion.

"That's his name," Hashirama supplies, nodding to Madara. "Well, excluding the -chan." He smiles.

Koharu stares at Madara for a long moment, as if she didn't understand what she was seeing, before her face flushes and makes the move to bow once more but Madara waves away the action before she can do it. He turns to Hashirama and makes a motion for him to follow and walks toward the forest a bit. Hashirama smiles down at the two girls before following after.

Koharu looks at the pink haired girl slowly. "Sakura-sama...?"

Sakura turns her attention to the girl and tilts her head to the side. "Ah?"

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in this..." she makes a vague gesture around with her right hand. Sakura follows the motion with her eyes before looking back into Koharu's duo colored, tilting her head again in confusion. The girl tries to smile, but it's a bit strained. "Never mind. Thank you for helping me. Should we help them look...?"

"No. To be honest, you will slow them down."

Koharu jumps, letting out a yelp and reaching out to grab Sakura's black sleeve. Sakura looks past Koharu to the speaker, letting out a playful laugh.

"Tobi, no sneak," Sakura giggles. Koharu relaxes a bit, seeing as Sakura isn't at all frightened by the newcomer's presence.

"My apologies," Tobirama says to Koharu, "I didn't mean to startle you. But what I spoke is truthful. Allow us to do the search, it'll be quicker and more efficient. You just relax and make sure that Hashirama takes a look at the wound on your arm and any other injuries you may have sustained. I know my brother well enough to know he'll insist that you and your mother, should we find her, stay at our camp tonight, so mentally prepare yourself to leave soon."

"To the Senju camp?" Koharu asks, surprised, eyes wide. "Is... is that okay? Will anyone get in trouble or...?"

"Doubt it," Tobirama says, rolling his eyes. "Hashirama is very persuasive, even if there is any issues. But I highly doubt it. He's the leader and gets to decide, so I wouldn't worry myself too much on things like that."

Koharu nods slowly, blushing deeply. "Yes sir..."

 

About a half hour later, Hashirama is sitting in front of Koharu, healing her arm and all the other injuries on her body. Like her scraped up feel and knees and even her hands. It was as Hashirama was finishing up that an Uchiha appears next to Madara and whispers something into his ear. Madara nods slowly before murmuring something back and the Uchiha vanishes. Madara walks over to Hashirama and puts a hand onto his shoulder, leaning down to whisper something into his ear. Hashirama doesn't pause in his healing, as he listens.

"I see," he says slowly, patting Koharu's knee before standing up. "I'll be right back, alright?" Both girls nod slowly, watching the two clan leaders disappear in a whirl of leaves.

There is an awkward silence that settles between the two of them. Sakura is twirling a long layer of her pink hair around her pointer finger only to pause when Koharu turned her duo colored eyes to Sakura's green ones. She raises twin pink eyebrows up toward her hairline when it appears as though the girl wanted to say something.

"You don't talk much, do you, Sakura-sama?" Koharu asks, trying to pluck a reason to break the silence out of the air. Sakura smiles, shrugging her shoulders. She had to suppose that was true. She wasn't much of a talker, anyway. After a pause, Koharu continues, "That white haired man..."

"Tobi?" Sakura asks.

Koharu nods. "Um, yes..."

"Tobirama," Sakura clairifies, remembering that her brother didn't much like people calling him Tobi other than Hashirama and herself. The last thing she would want is to make her brother not like her new friend because of such a simple mistake on Sakura's part. "He doesn't much like being called Tobi," she says.

Koharu nods again, this time in understanding. "Is he... a brother too? Are you, he and Lord Senju all related?"

Sakura nods, smiling. "Both are my aniki," Sakura says. "Do you have any siblings?"

Koharu shakes her head. "My father... um, he died a long time ago, when I was just a baby. It was just me and my mother ever since. Forgive me, but, you don't really look like your brothers... and well, your brothers don't really look alike either..." She reaches up and runs a small pale hand through long blond hair. "Forgive me if I'm being too presumptuous."

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. "I am not the same blood. I am different. Brought into the family. They are blood brothers. Tobirama is albino."

Koharu's eyes widen a bit. "A real albino? I've heard about them, but I've never seen them before. Aren't they really sensitive to the sunlight?"

Sakura nods. "Tobirama uses chakra to protect himself." She tries to find a way to explain. "Um, water chakra to protect the skin."

Koharu stares back at her with wide eyes. "Is chakra really able to do that? I always heard that it was amazing, but I never could have imagined that it would be able to do things like that. Protect someone from the sun."

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. That was a better question for Hashirama or Tobirama. Sakura wasn't much for knowing the ins and outs of chakra and their abilities. Her brothers delved a lot more in those arts than she did. It was an interesting question though. One that she should probably investigate. It is kind of amazing to think about. Chakra being able to do such things. Sakura hadn't really thought about it before.

"Chakra is cool," Sakura says, laughing to herself.

Koharu nods. "It does sound very cool. I'm a bit envious. What's it like.. if you don't mind, I mean, to be a shinobi?"

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. "I know nothing else," she says. "What is it like to not be a shinobi?"

Koharu smiles. "I guess that's a fair question. I wouldn't know how to answer that any better. Sorry. So what is going to happen to my mom and I, at the Senju compound..? Can you tell me?"

Sakura rubs her chin a bit in thought. "Eat?" She guesses. Well, at least she hopes so. Sakura is getting pretty hungry and could use some food soon. If not, she'll have to scrounge for food in the forest, and her brothers don't trust her cooking skills. Hashirama tried, very delicately to tell Sakura that he firmly believed her cooking could be a virulent poison. The he patted her on the back and congratulated her with a big smile on his face. Sakura didn't have to feel insulted. Tobirama appeared insulted enough for the two of them.

Although, Sakura did notice that he didn't try and defend her cooking. So maybe she could feel a little insulted.

"Let us go now, ladies," Madara says, making both girls jump at the sound of his voice, turning to look over at him. "We have found your mother," Madara says to Koharu, the girl opens her mouth, but he stops her before she can say anything, "She's not in good shape, girl, Hashirama needs to be with her now. He's the only one that can fix her."

Koharu looks horrified, face visibly paling. "Will she be okay? I-Is she going to die? I-I sh-should be with her!"

Madara shakes his head. "It will do you no good to be here. Hashirama has already cleared it for you to go to the Senju camp and has asked me to ensure you get there." He looks over at Sakura. "And you, Sakura. Tobirama and Hashirama will stay here with a few of your clansmen. The Uchiha and the remainder of the Senju clansmen present back to the compound."

Sakura nods, looking over at a fear-stricken Koharu. Sakura reaches out and takes her hand and squeezes it tightly with her own, hoping to somehow force some reassurance into the blond girl. It didn't appear to work very well, since the girl only appeared to be more worried. Her entire body starts to shake a bit as he fear begins to overwhelm her.

"Will she die? Please, let me see her! I won't be a burden, I promise!" She jumps to her feet and steps up in front of Madara, looking up at him with wide, wild eyes, yet she is somehow coherent enough not to reach out and grab him. Sakura knows the lifestyle of a shinobi well enough to know that they don't react well when strange people touch them. Especially if it's suddenly. Not often do strangers approach shinobi to touch them with something that won't inevitably kill them. So, Sakura jumps up and puts a hand on both of the other girl's arms to ensure nothing bad happens.

Madara stares down at the distressed blond for a long moment before letting out a long winded sigh. He looks at Sakura with unreadable black eyes before reaching out and putting a hand behind the girl's neck. He pinches the nerve and her eyes roll into the back of her head and her legs collapse beneath her. Madara catches her easily and nods for an Uchiha to take the now unconscious girl.

Sakura tilts her head a bit. "Madara...?"

"Hashirama cannot have any distractions. Especially if they come in the form of emotional, upset teenager. He needs to focus. I can apologize properly to her when she wakes up. For now, let her sleep. She looks like she needs it." Sakura nods slowly. There is no point in arguing, she was already out cold anyway. Sakura just hoped that her big brother could save Koharu's mother. If anyone could, it would be Hashirama. Sakura had faith in him. If Madara thinks that Hashirama shouldn't be disturbed so that he can save her, then Sakura will do what she can to help him.

 

Sakura trails behind Madara, knowing full well that he, and the rest of the Senju and Uchiha, have slowed down considerably because of both Sakura and Izuna. Neither can keep up with their normal speed right now. Especially since Sakura is really getting hungry and Izuna just hasn't built up his stamina yet again. Both of them are really going to need some hardcore training.

Sakura's not looking forward to that. She likes training well enough, especially when her brothers are teaching her, but she's not exactly a training buff. She'll do it when she's told to, and she'll work hard at it, but she won't usually go out of her way to train. She's never needed to, but maybe she should, just so she's not slowing everyone down as much as she does. At the very least, she should take her training a lot more seriously. That way, she can say that she's put forth more of an effort and even show it.

It took significantly longer for them to make it to the Senju compound than Sakura would like. Her stomach is growling loudly when they reach the front gates. Sakura sits down in front of them and lays onto her back, closing her eyes.

"Um... what is she doing?" One of the Uchiha ask.

"Who knows?" Another whispers.

Madara tilts his head toward Sakura for a moment, listening to the faint sound of Sakura's stomach growling, before smiling so minutely. "She's weak from hunger. I think she's taken her last steps."

"We'll take care of her from here," her cousin Rei says, grabbing her under the armpits and lifting her to her feet. Sakura wraps her arms around his neck and he picks her up more comfortably. "I'll get Sakura-sama something to eat," he says to one of the older Senju present, before turning to Madara and Izuna, bowing a bit, seeing as Sakura is in the way. "My lords, I wish for a safe travel home."

Madara nods once in dismissal and Rei straightens up, carrying Sakura into the camp. She looks over Rei's shoulder at Madara, who was staring at her with large pitch black eyes. She rests her cheek onto Rei's shoulder and smiles cutely at Madara, wiggling her fingers a bit in farewell. He nods very slowly, still just staring at her.

Sakura really liked Madara. She liked that he appeared to be at complete peace. Even though it's only been a few days, he seems to have relaxed significantly since before the end of the war. Izuna too. Without the curse inside of them, both brothers seem to be completely relaxed. Like a bomb could go off next to them and neither would bat an eyelash at it. Izuna has turned his focus away from revenge and to training. Rebuilding the strength that he lost whilst on his death bed. He's been sending Sakura looks for a while, no doubt trying to build the courage to thank her again.

But she waits. She doesn't need thanks, but it seems important to him - since he's putting so much thought into it - so Sakura will wait patiently until he is ready. Until then, she'll fake ignorance. She's really good at that.

But as the distance between them grows, the look in their eyes makes it seem like it's closing up. A strange moment passes between them, like everything else in the world disappears and it's just the two of them. It's like everything else just falls away and leaves them there. It's at this moment that Sakura becomes aware of Madara.

It's a strange feeling, similar to that of Transference. Like, they were somehow connected, the boundaries of bodies suddenly stopped existed. Sakura could easily see the slight rising of his shoulders when he breathed, the light breeze ruffling his hair. A bead of sweat trailing down his neck from the heat, and she could feel his powerful chakra, growling like an angry animal under his skin. He's calm, relaxed, but his chakra is like a blazing inferno, even beneath his flesh. Sakura had the impression before, but his chakra is monstrous in strength.

Truly, like a wild animal. It fascinates Sakura to know that his chakra is so powerful.

They both blink and the connection is broken, but they don't break eye contact until Rei turns the corner of a house and Madara is out of sight.

 

Sakura jerks out of her sleep when she hears whispering coming from the living room. Sakura looks over at the window, seeing that it was dark out. The stars are twinkling brightly out there and the moon is full. Sakura rubs her head, wondering if she was just imagining the voices or if her brothers were home.

Home? That's right! They didn't come home with her. She had to go to bed by herself.

Sakura pushes the covers off of her legs, smoothing down her night robs, and walk out of the room, into the living room to see Tobirama and Hashirama standing by the open front door, staring at each other. Tobirama is already in his sleeping clothes - he must have snuck into the house sometime earlier and didn't wake Sakura up - while Hashirama was still in his clothes from earlier.

They both turn to look at Sakura when she steps into the room, looking between her brothers.

"Koharu's mom okay?" Sakura asks, walking over to them.

Hashirama smiles tiredly. "Yes, little blossom." He looks exhausted. He must have been healing her for a long time, then, on top of that, he had to run all the way home. He must be tired. Sakura reaches out and takes his large, tanned hand, wrapping her little fingers around his. She rubs the back of his hand with her other one, hoping that it's soothing. "Are you okay, Hashirama-ani?"

Hashirama nods. "Yeah, I'm okay. Koharu's mother is going to need a few days to heal, but she'll be alright. She's a strong young lady."

"Sakura," Tobirama says, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder, "let's let Hashirama get changed before he tells us more. Come, lets go make some tea." Sakura nods, letting Hashirama's hand go and heads for the kitchen. She glanced back, just in time to see the grateful look sent the white haired man's way from her eldest brother. Hashirama quietly slips away into his bedroom, shutting the door.

Sakura grabs all of the supplies to make the tea while Tobirama makes the fire. They both work in silence for a few minutes. Tobirama puts the pot of water over the fire and leans back on his hands, legs folded in front of him. Sakura sits next to him with her legs tucked nicely underneath her. She glances over at Tobirama and tilts her head to the side.

When the white haired man finally turns to acknowledge the staring girl after almost an entire minute, she says, "Tobi's been home long?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "An hour, maybe. I didn't want to wake you. Sorry."

Sakura turns her eyes toward the fire, staring into the bright red, orange and yellow flickering lights. She reaches out a hand toward it, feeling the heat coming off of it. She pulls her hand back, knowing her luck, if she temped fate, she'll get burned. Best to try and avoid it at all costs. Hashirama steps out his room now dressed in sleep attire, looking even more tired then before. His movements, usually filled with graceful lethality, is slightly off. He drags his feet all the way over to Sakura's other side before dropping to his butt with his back facing Sakura before falling back so his head rests on her thighs.

The pink haired girl's long thin fingers find his brown hair, running through the silky soft strands; pushing the strands away from his face and running her blunt nails across his scalp in a soothing fashion that Dallia did to them when they were all younger. When the days are especially hard for her brothers, they would lay their heads on her lap and she would rub their scalps. Sakura thinks that it reminds her big brothers of their mother. Butsuma didn't like it when Dallia did it, Sakura's brothers became too relaxed and zoned out, but she kept doing it.

"They may be your little soldiers on the battlefield, sweetheart," Dallia had said, running her fingers through both Hashirama and Tobirama's hair while they lay in an open field together. Sakura was making Hashirama a flower crown to accompany the one on Dallia's head when their father appeared. "But here, away from the battle, they are my babies and my babies need to relax a bit."

Butsuma wasn't happy with that answer, but Tobirama had opened his eyes and promised their father that he was practicing his sensing abilities. That he knew were everyone was in the immediate area was. Tobirama was able to convince him that he was still alert and it eased their father's minor agitation.

Sakura made Hashirama and Tobirama their necklaces and even one for Butsuma, but the man just held it, never once putting it on.

"Hashirama-ani..?" Sakura says softly, looking down at her eldest brother. Hashirama's eyelids are slightly discolored - purple, if Sakura had to guess - were closed for a moment longer before he opens them to reveal large dark brown eyes.

"Yes, my little imouto?" he says softly, blinking slowly. "What can I do for you?"

"Are you okay, aniki?" Sakura asks, leaning over her brother a bit.

Hashirama shakes his head slowly, eyes slightly unfocused. "I'm alright. Why?"

Sakura raises her eyes over to her other brother. Tobirama was staring into the fire, letting the light dance across his face and even letting the fire burn in his already deadly red eyes. The fire dyes his white hair orange and red with the light. She looks back down at a silently awaiting Hashirama and softly says, with a hint of teasing, "Tobi was worried."

Tobirama snorts, but says nothing. Hashirama's face breaks out into a soft smile, closing his eyes. "Tell Tobirama, my angelic little imouto, that I am just fine. Tired is all. I didn't get much sleep the last few nights."

Sakura frowns a bit at that. "Can't sleep?"

"Anxious," Hashirama slurs slightly. "Nothing horrible. But I think after using so much of my chakra and energy today, I'll sleep good tonight." Tobirama leans forward and pulls the tea pot off the fire and stands up, making them all a cup of tea. Sakura can understand that. Her brother has been waiting years for this peace and now that it's finally upon them, he's been up most nights pacing. Hashirama doesn't like people worrying about him or taking too much of the burden onto themselves and often forgets that he's human and needs help at times.

Sakura supposes that when one is told since he was small that he's a god amongst shinobi, he begins to lose the amount of people he can count on. Sakura's big brothers have it hard. Even so young, they are both very well respected and well liked to boot. They both have their own reputations: Tobirama is strict by-the-book kind of person, where Hashirama is relax and maybe a bit impulsive.

But the truth is, while Hashirama is often confused for being ignorant or abrasive, he actually spends a great deal of time thinking through each and ever decision that he makes. It's just... when he offers the idea, it doesn't come off as if it was well thought through, or maybe her brother just liked people thinking that he's impulsive and doubting him only for him to blow them away with something working out in their favor.

Either way, there is a lot of pressure on her brothers. If there was anything she could to take even the tiniest bit off for them, she would in a heart beat. She owed them at least that. They saved her life almost eight years ago. She's going to be sixteen in just a few short months.

They sit in silence. After his tea - that was resting in his hands on his stomach - was done cooling down, he sits up and drinks slowly, humming under his breath. "I love jasmine tea."

Tobirama nods, taking a drink of his own. "I agree."

Sakura takes a drink, making a big smile to her brothers to show them that she agreed too. After a few more minutes of them all just drinking their tea, Sakura looks over at Hashirama.

"Koharu's mother?"

Hashirama swallows the tea in his mouth before resting the cup, still balanced on his palms, on his lap. "She'll be fine, I think. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details, but that woman is a fighter. They caught her, but she fought tooth and nail to try and get away." He pauses for a moment, then added, as if it were an afterthought, "I woke Koharu up and let her stay with her mother. She wasn't too happy with Madara for knocking her out but I think she understands. She's a good girl."

"May I see her...?" Sakura asks.

Hashirama rubs his face tiredly. "You may, my pink haired sister, but in a few hours. I need to sleep." A pause, before Hashirama glances over at Sakura.  
Koharu told me that she scared you when she jumped out of a bush while you were using the bathroom earlier. She said she was planning on just running past you but you saw how distressed she was and heard the men approaching, calling out to her, and you took her hand and ran. Is that what happened?"

Sakura nods.

"Did you at least get to go to the bathroom?" Hashirama asks. "You weren't gone for that long."

Sakura nods again, smiling.

Hashirama shakes his head. "Alright, I need some sleep. Let's head on to bed, huh you two?"

Sakura and Tobirama agree. They wave for Hashirama to stay put while they clean up. Sakura helps Tobirama clean up the cups and the pot, put out the fire and put away the tea leaves. Then the three siblings bid goodnight to one another before heading off to their separate rooms. Sakura crawls into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin, turning onto her side and closing her eyes, letting the darkness that patiently awaited take her.


	7. Questioning

Koharu was happy to see Sakura the next morning. Her mother wasn't taking any visitors while she was recovering at the moment other than Koharu, but the girl had been watching over her mother all night and Sakura wanted to get the duo eyed girl out of the room and into the fresh air. Sakura showed her all around the Senju compound, listened to her gush over how cool it was to watch shinobi so close doing such menial, every day things.

Koharu seemed to have gotten over her unease at being in a clan camp relatively quickly. A great part probably had to do with all the Senju bowing respectfully to Sakura as she passed and Koharu's arm being linked with hers almost made her immune in a way. She was safe with Sakura. No Senju would say or do anything in Sakura's presence - should there be anything that needs to be said or done - but Sakura isn't actually as shinobi savvy as she probably should be, so if there was a freak attack on the camp and people were running after Koharu and Sakura, the chances of Sakura saving anyone's life is... ahem, very very slim.

But Sakura isn't going to say anything about that. That's just inviting bad juju.

They pick up something to eat and walk all the way back to the medical structure where her mother was still sleeping, the Senju nurse informed them when she exited the room. They gave her a bit to eat and drink before letting her go back to sleep. Sakura and Koharu sit down on the porch outside of Koharu's mother's door and eat in relative silence.

After a few minutes, filled with the sound of soft chewing and birds chirping, Koharu swallows the food in her mouth before turning to Sakura and saying, albeit hesitantly, "Sakura-sama?"

"Hm?" Sakura hums with a mouth full of food.

"Thank you, and your brothers, for everything they are doing for us. I owe you all a debt that I don't think I'll ever be able to repay. But, if there is any way I can start, please let me know," she says softly, tipping her head slightly in a bow. Sakura shrugs her shoulders, not knowing how to answer. There was nothing she wanted from Koharu, other than maybe being friends, and Hashirama probably won't ask for anything, but Tobirama's the big picture thinker. If he sees some form of potential in doing something or having someone do something, he'll do what he must to get it. Whatever it is. But she'll leave that between her brothers.

Sometimes Hashirama is able to talk Tobirama out of whatever he has planned, but then again, sometimes Tobirama uses logic to win Hashirama over despite his relatively straight-forward moral compass.

"Mother alright?" Sakura asks, changing the subject.

Koharu nods. "Yeah, she... um, she was beat up pretty bad, but... um, your brother said she'll be okay." There is a slight hesitation before she asks, softly, as if afraid someone else will hear, "He wasn't lying, was he?"

"Hashirama-ani?" Sakura asks.

Koharu nods. "About my mother being alright. He wasn't lying, right?"

Sakura didn't know. She didn't know what exactly he said, but Hashirama wasn't the type to lie. At least not when it really matters. Life or death things, sometimes when it comes to people's feelings, she'll catch her eldest brother in a little white lie, but he usually sticks tot he truth. Since this about a woman's life, Sakura's pretty sure her brother would tell the truth, even if it was bad. He's not in the habit of giving false hope. At least not maliciously. If he honestly did believe she wouldn't be okay, Sakura has faith that Hashirama would have said something.

"Truth, I think," Sakura says.

Koharu sighs in relief, letting her shoulders slump inward as the tension is released from them. After a long moment of silence, Koharu looks back over at Sakura. "Can I ask something? And just tell me if I'm stepping out of line." Sakura nods, making a gesture for her to continue. "You don't... um, speak normal. At first I thought... well, it doesn't matter what I thought, but you seem all here. You know what I mean?"

"Sakura, smart!" Sakura says, laughing and bumping shoulders with Koharu.

Koharu nods. "I'm starting to see that. But then why do you talk like that? A speech impediment?"

Sakura tilts her head, not understanding.

"My little sister just doesn't talk much," Hashirama says, making both girls jump when he suddenly appears in front of them. His hands are hidden inside his shirt sleeves. He smiles kindly down of them when Koharu stands to bow and Sakura wiggles her fingers to him in greeting. "She doesn't feel the need to say a lot, so she usually cuts down on the words needed to say things. We tried getting her to talk normally, and sometimes she does, but if she can see a way around it..?" He shrugs, rolling his eyes playfully. "Well, I've come to learn that my dear little imouto is hard to persuade."

"That, my lord, is because you and Tobirama are too lenient with her," their aunt Lia says, having materialized out of nowhere with an empty bowl in her hands. "That and you can attribute her choppy sentences to laziness, isn't that right Princess?"

Sakura smiles cutely at her aunt, making the older woman smile faintly. Hashirama leans down and kisses her cheek. "You are right, Auntie. As per always. What would we ever do without you?"

Lia shakes her head, rolling her eyes. "Don't butter me up, boy." Then, she smiles again, reaching up to pat his cheek affectionately, the hard look on her face, signifying a hard life, smoothes out a bit, before return neutral. She tips her head slightly in a bow before walking toward the kitchens.

Hashirama turns back to Koharu, who had already straightened up and tilts his head slightly, long dark hair falling over his shoulder. "Do you mind if I sneak into your mother's room to check on her?"

Koharu takes an exaggerated step out of the way. "No I do not, please, my lord." She makes a sweeping gesture toward the room before a look crosses her face that stops Hashirama from moving past her.

He stares at her. When she doesn't look like she'll answer without prompt, he says, "What is it?"

She tugs at the end of her borrowed kimono. One of Sakura's old ones. Not that it mattered, the girl wasn't that much shorter than Sakura. She probably could have gotten away with one of Sakura's more frequently used ones.

"Um," she says softly, "how do I make this up to you, my lord? As I said, since we lost our carriage we don't have much to offer you, but-"

Hashirama holds up a hand to stop her. "I understand. As I said before, little one, we didn't help you in hopes of getting something in return. But if you want to do something in repayment to us, I'll ask something of you."

Both Sakura and Koharu were surprised by his bluntness. They both share a look, which Sakura shrugs in confusion at, not having an answer, before Koharu looks back over at Hashirama with duo colored eyes and nods. "Anything, my lord. Just name it."

Hashirama smiles softly. "Answer me a question."

Koharu's eyebrows raise to her hairline. "My lord?"

"Yes, Koharu, all I want from you is a simple answer," Hashirama says. "Do you know you are part of a clan?"

Her eyebrows would have raised higher if they could. "I... I'm from a what?"

"It's not in your mother," Hashirama says, looking over at the door the woman in question is sleeping behind before turning his large dark brown eyes back to the blond girl, "so it must be from your father. Those eyes. Do you know what they do?"

"Allow me to see?" Koharu asks innocently. Sakura snorts at that. She knew nothing about what he brother was talking about, so she was interested in what he had to say too. Was Koharu really part of some clan? Those were some unique eyes that she had. But imagine Sakura's luck? Finding someone from a clan? Someone that her brother recognizes. The clan, Sakura thinks. Obviously her brother hasn't seen this girl before, but the only out of ordinary thing about her is her eyes. So he had to of seen them before and knew she was from a clan. Or had at least heard about people from a clan with those eyes.

Hashirama chuckles lightly at that. "Well, yes. Or at least, I should hope so, but those eyes are part of a shinobi bloodlimit, or kekkei genkai. It's not a dojutsu, like most believe. It's actually a birth defect because of your blood limit. What I mean is, the eyes aren't the kekkei genkai, but an affect of having the kekkei genkai that you have. But without proper training, it may never manifest itself. At least, not in a way that you would notice."

Koharu's eyes widen more, if that was even possible. "I'm from a... a..." She shakes her head, as if the entire premise didn't compute with her. She looks over at Sakura, as if the pink haired girl could better explain it, but she couldn't. She wasn't exactly well informed about the shinobi world. More specifically the clans. She knew about her own clan. And... the Uchiha, sorta. That was about it.

"A clan, yes," Hashirama says. "Your clan has what is known as invisible chakra. Those eyes of yours allow you to see the invisible chakra your family is so well known for. Where as the rest of us, and only those with keen eyes, can see slight shimmers in the air. Your jutsu, and person, would be completely invisible to a Hyuga's Byakugan."

Koharu glances over at Sakura, who just smiles faintly back, not knowing what to say. Something like that was between her brother and Koharu. The long blond haired girl looks over at Hashirama. "What... what does that mean, my lord?"

Hashirama smiles, it's a strange, secret smile. "Nothing, for now, little one. But I would like to speak with your mother when she's well. As for now, you are welcome to come with me while I check on her."

Koharu nods slowly, looking lost in thought before heading into her mother's room, mumbling goodbye to Sakura before she disappears. Hashirama follows, pulling his hand out of his sleeve long enough to pat Sakura on top of the head before he too disappeared into the room holding Koharu's mom. Sakura sits there for a few minutes, looking up at the bright blue sky before standing up and heading toward her home.

 

Sakura's not sure how long she was laying there - probably a few hours - looking at the sky from beneath the shade. Okay, admittedly, she was probably slipping in and out consciousness, just enjoying the heat and the peacefulness that comes with no longer being in a war. She opens her eyes when she felt a presence over her body.

She yelps in surprised when she sees someone leaning over her. It was Madara, staring down at her with large, pitch black eyes. Sakura relaxes almost immediately after realizing who it was. She smiles up at him with a soft, "Hi."

"Hello," Madara says, staring down at her. "How are you doing today..?" His words came out softly, but there is a strange lilt to them, as if he's not really sure that's what he wants to say. Or if that's what he's suppose to say. Sakura is given the impression that he doesn't make a lot of small talk. Which is understandable, since there isn't a lot of time for small talk when you're living in war-time.

"Okay," Sakura says. "Why are you here?"

Madara looks hesitant, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other, as if waiting for something. It takes Sakura a moment before she pats the earth right next to her, inviting him to sit. He looks relieved and sits beside her, leaning back on his hands and looking down at the Senju camp in silence for a few minutes. Sakura was about to ask Madara again why he was there with her, instead of spending time with her brothers, but he speaks before she can.

"We should spend time together, I think..."

Sakura looks over at him curiously, not having expected that. She tilts her head slightly in confusion. Why would he want to spend time with her? What did any of this have to do with her?

"Why?" She asks, when it appears as though he didn't understand what her look meant.

Madara frowns at that. "Has Hashirama said nothing to you? Tobirama, neither? About the deal between us?"

Sakura stares back at him blankly. "No..." Her brothers never said anything about some sort of deal between her and Madara. Or was it them and Madara?

Madara reaches up and scratches his throat, suddenly looking uncomfortable. Or, more uncomfortable than he was before. He mutters something under his breath as he looks around the Senju camp before turning his gaze back to Sakura. "Do you remember when you healed Izuna for a second time, here in the Senju camp? Hashirama and myself made a deal..."

Sakura sits up, running her fingers through her hair, catching and untangling the knots before turning completely to face the black haired Uchiha clan leader. She didn't really recall them mentioning a deal. No, wait, she did remember something. But that was something she thought they were going to talk about later, not something that was already set in stone. What was it again?

"You'll be my bride," Madara says, as if he could read Sakura's mind.

"Bride..." Sakura echoes. "Have you spoken to Hashirama-ani...?" Sakura has been told for a long time, since her first time bleeding, which was a hilarious story involving her two brothers panicking about the prospect of their sister bleeding from a wound they couldn't find, and then panicking about their little sister becoming a woman when they realized what other option there was. That was the first time her brothers both jumped at the chance to go to the front lines, at the same time and were gone for about a week. But she digressed. Since she became a woman, she's been told that one day she will marry a man from a prominent family, since she is a Princess of her clan, and bare his children.

As childish as Sakura may act, she isn't ignorant to what was going to be her future. She was going to marry someone, someone she probably wouldn't have met before hand, and leave her brothers forever. Perhaps, in a way, that's why Sakura would act and speak the way she did, to make future husbands weary about marrying a girl who doesn't seem to be all there. Naturally, Sakura would just have to shake her head at a potential suitor and her brothers would chase him away without a second thought, but for the sake of her brothers and the clan that took her in, Sakura would marry if it would help them.

If Hashirama and Tobirama asked her to marry someone, regardless of who they were, she would. Madara wouldn't be a horrible choice by far. He was young, only a few years older than Sakura. He was unique with a lot of dark features that appealed to Sakura: his dark eyes and hair that contrast beautifully with his pale skin. He's powerful, capable of fighting with her brothers with chakra that is practically able to take on a life of it's own. And his deepest desire lined up neatly with her older brother. And one of the best parts is that if she married Madara, she would be able to stay with her brothers while helping the clan that took her in.

"I spoke with Hashirama this morning," Madara says slowly, looking greatly uncomfortable. "We talked about the future and well, he has concerns - legitimate, mind you - about how this would all work. You saved Izuna, twice now, and as promised, I'll take you as my bride..." he makes a face at that. "Wait, that sounded impersonal..."

Sakura couldn't argue that. He did say it matter-of-factly, but she can see that he was trying to be considerate about it, but basic human interaction isn't something everyone is born with, it seems. In the kindest way something like that can be thought of.

"Does both of my aniki want that...?" Sakura asks.

Madara tilts his head slightly. "Well, sort of. They are, um, not really happy, but feeling better about you being able to stay close, but Hashirama has already made it clear that while our friendship means a lot to him, if you somehow get hurt in any way, shape or form, there was nothing on this planet that could keep him from me, so there's that." A pause, then, "Well, Tobirama giving me the death glare was pretty crystal clear on his stand on this too. But I asked them if I could talk to you before we went any further."

Sakura smiles lightly. "About what?"

"How do you feel about getting married?" Madara asks, then clears his throat. "With me, I mean."

Sakura looks up at the sky for a long time, not sure how to answer that. It should be alright, right? She would be able to stay with her brothers. It would practically be the same as she's been living her life, just now she'll be married. She can do that. It seems easy enough.

"I like Madara," Sakura says, turning bright green eyes back over to the Uchiha patriarch. Madara's eyes widen a bit at her words before he looks away sharply, cheeks coloring slightly. He reaches up and scratches his throat in embarrassed again. He looks around at everything but Sakura.

"Why...?" He asks. There is a moment, before he looks back over at Sakura. "What could you ever like about me?"

Sakura didn't understand the question. What could she like? He hadn't much given her reasons not to like him. He saved her life when she fell into the river and floated down stream. In a way, they could say it was his fault she fell in, but the way she sees it, she wouldn't have fallen in if she didn't get too close to Hashirama and his fight. He didn't have to jump in and save her. They had only met once before and she was from a rival clan, he owed nothing to her.

Yet he saved her, so he's good to her. Her brothers never would let her marry someone who wouldn't be good to her. And she's inclined to believe that Madara wouldn't be a bad husband.

Sakura smiles kindly. "I don't know. You seem good."

Madara grunts at that, obviously not what he wanted to hear. But instead of saying anything about that, he changes the topic suddenly to something she hadn't expected. "You're different today."

Sakura tilts her head to the side in curiosity. "Ah?"

Madara drops his hand onto his lap. "I mean, the way you hold yourself. The way you're talking. It's... more complete, I think. It's a lot easier for me to understand you."

Sakura smiles. "It would be a hard conversation to have between us if I spoke normally. For me, I mean. People tend to be less cautious if you look perpetually confused."

Madara stares at her blankly for a moment before looking mildly surprised, then amused. "Minx," he says softly, more to himself than to Sakura. But she heard and smiles innocently back at him. He lets out a little laugh, shaking his head slowly. "Hashirama did say you were like an old soul..."

"Aniki doesn't lie," Sakura laughs.

"So I'm beginning to learn," Madara says, looking back down at the village. There is a long comfortable silence between them as they look around themselves. Sakura's not sure how long it stretched on before Madara speaks again, "There is only four months leading up to your birthday, and if I know my clansmen as well as I think I do, they will insist we get married soon after you turn sixteen, if not the day of. Unfortunately, we will also be moving both clans to the new home so much of my time will be preoccupied, possibly all the way up to the wedding..."

Sakura looks over at Madara silently, not sure she knows how to respond to that. Madara looks over at her from the corner of his eye, waiting for her to say something. Sakura looks around for a moment, trying to think of something. She's not upset about not being able to see Madara, or her own brothers for that matter, because she knows that they've been gunning for this peace for a long time and while delicate, the momentum can not slow down for risk of the entire thing exploding in all of their faces.

"Focus on the unification," Sakura says slowly. "I can wait." Madara frowns a bit at that, but says nothing. There was nothing more that needed to be said. Or nothing that could be said currently. What Sakura said couldn't be refuted. Whatever that was to happen between them would happen, in time. For now, the preparations for the en-mass move to their new home had to come first.

Madara stood to leave not long after, but he didn't move down the hill right away. The wind picked up, pushing his long, thick black hair a bit against his waist before settling again. "I like when you speak normally," Madara murmurs, as if not sure he wanted to be heard.

"Ah?" Sakura says, not sure she heard right.

"I said..." Madara hesitates, still not looking back at the girl. "I said, farewell for now."

Sakura didn't call him on his lie, and Madara left a few moments later.

 

Koharu's mother was a beautiful woman even covered in dark, but healing marks. Her long blond hair, no doubt where Koharu gets her own from, lay around her like a pool of water, shimmering in the firelight.

It had been about a week since her conversation with Madara, and she had yet to see him again. The Uchiha clan, being further away from their new home had to move first. They would make their way through the camp, where the Senju would join them and the two clans would travel to their new home together. Sakura could hear the protests from the elders of both sides that it would be more efficient to have the clans arrive separate, as so no one clans members would slow down the other, but Hashirama and Madara both refused.

They believed it would be a perfect way to start their new relationship by working together. If they had to slow down in the move, then they had to slow down. It wouldn't be the fault of one clan or the other. Both clans had both small children, pregnant mothers, and elderly that wouldn't be able to move far fast anyhow. When they stood on a united front, neither clans elders dare speak out against their leaders.

Her brothers had been so preoccupied in preparation for the Uchiha's arrival and subsequent departure of both clans that she rarely saw them too. So she spent a great deal of time with Koharu. Her mother was getting better, slower now since Hashirama couldn't visit her ever day, but she was able to get up and move around most of the time, but her injuries still bothered her enough that the healers wanted her to continue resting until they had to move. Sakura's not sure what Koharu and her mother are going to do, but she hopes that they will accompany the two clans to their new home.

"How are you, Sakura-sama?" Koharu's mother, Rin, asks, looking up at Sakura with tired blue eyes. "This is the fifth day in a row you've come to visit. You're such a sweet girl."

Sakura smiles down at her new friend's mother. She takes Rin's hand and holds it tight. "Feel good?"

Rin nods. "Yes, Sakura-sama, today was a good day. I think I'll be able to be up and about more frequently. Please, thank Lord Senju again for helping me. I know he's a busy man but you've all done so much for my Koharu and myself that I wish there was something we could do to repay them. And you." Sakura makes a confused look, pointing to her self. Rin laughs softly, tiredly. "Yes, you too. You've been looking after my Koharu."

"I like Koharu," Sakura says, smiling brightly. Koharu, on Rin's other side, holding her other hand, blushes, purple and orange eyes hold flames dancing in them from the nearby candles.

"I think now is a good time to talk to you, Sakura-sama, about what we decided," Koharu says, rubbing her mother's hand soothingly. Sakura tilts her head. Decided on what, Sakura didn't know.

"Okay...?" Sakura says softly, tilting her head even more.

"You remember how Lord Senju told us I was part of a clan...? Mother agreed to let us stay with the Senju and do what we can to repay them." Koharu smiles sweetly, her hands trembling in excitement, eyes lit up with more than just a normal flame from a candle. There was excitement, curiosity, even a bit of fear as she says her next words, "I want to learn how to control my abilities. I want to learn about my family heritage."

Sakura returns her head to normal, holding her smile steady. "Good. We'll help." Koharu relaxes a little, same with Rin. Sakura had a feeling that was what her brother would talk to Koharu and her mother about; joining the conjoined clans, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. But it was still nice to hear that not only did her big brother offer, but it was also accepted.

 

Sakura spent a good deal that night thinking about what Koharu had said about wanting to become a shinobi. Or at least learn their ways. In some way, it will help the duo eyed girl come to learn about her father's clan. It was such a simple, pure statement. A way of reaching out for a tangible link to the paternal figure she no longer had in her life. She didn't want glory or fame, just to understand more of herself.

Sakura supposed she could understand that. It was a simple desire and one that Sakura couldn't fault the slightly younger girl for. In a way, it made Sakura think about something she hadn't given much thought to in a long time: her own heritage.

The young Senju princess knew nothing about herself. She knew nothing about her abilities either, other than there must be a part of them that is purely instinctual or otherwise she wouldn't know how she knew them. She has no idea if the things she can do that are strange compared to others stem from some soft of kekkei genkai that was hidden somewhere in the corner of her mind, where the memories of her first seven years lie? She didn't know. Perhaps these are all things she learned as a child, forgot the memories but somehow the teachings remained.

Was something like that even possible?

Sakura spent a lot of the first few years with her new family wondering what her life before was like, but as she got older and found her place amongst her family, more specifically her two brothers, she began to care less and less. She was content with where she was, even happy about it, this place, amongst these people was where she was meant to be.

But thinking about it again, due to Koharu's words, brought her to this circle of thought again and again. It was a tiring line of thought that she could have a million times without being any closer to the truth. Sakura knew nothing about herself. Nothing. And she had no way of finding out more about it. There was nothing about her that could be linked to any known families, and it's doubtful that she's from any clans, for her lack of abilities in any and all fields of shinobi life.

The only thing she can remember, is the vivid memory of a pair of eyes. She can't tell whose eyes they are; man or woman, young or old. But they are the only things that she can recall from before waking up to Hashirama and Tobirama saving her life. And now, years later, the level of clarity she once had over that memory is gone. Now it's just a pair of eyes hidden in a fog.

In a way, the pink haired girl has forsaken any chances of her connecting to where she came from. And she was okay with that. There had to be a good reason she ended up in a river. There had to be a good reason that her clansmen found no one in search of Sakura. She was a very noticeable person. She was the only one that she knew of that had such vibrant pink hair. It would be one thing if her hair was more of a natural color like Hashirama. But she would stand out in a crowd, yet no one was looking for her.

Perhaps it was best she never was found. The last thing she would want is to meet people who weren't her family and they expect her to conform to them because of blood ties. She loved her family. She was going to stick with them.

Her brothers were everything to her. She would never abandon them.

Sakura jolts awake, having at some point fallen asleep in the middle of her inner tangent. She sits up to see the crescent moon shining light through her window. She looks over to the door to see it cracked open a bit with the orange glow of a candle filtering in. She stands up slowly, stretching her legs before walking over to the door and leaning her head closer to hear.

She can distinguish Tobirama and Hashirama's voices on the other side of the door, talking is soft whispers. Instead of bothering them like she usually would, she steps away from the door and heads back to her bed, pulling the covers up to her waist and rolling onto her side, facing the window. She closes her eyes and forces herself to relax and seek slumber once more.

It was maybe a minute later before she heard her door slide open a d bit and light footsteps enter the room, making their way over to her. They block out the moonlight as they sit down in front of her, there is some more shifting before they fell silent. Sakura doesn't open her eyes right away, wondering what her brother, most likely Hashirama, could want.

"Why didn't you come out, imouto?" Hashirama asks softly. "Tobirama felt your chakra come to the door, but then you went back to bed. Are you not feeling well?" There was a pause before a cool hand rests on her forehead, making Sakura open her eyes. "You feel fine," Hashirama says, laying next to her on his side, head propped up on his fist. "Are you mad at Tobi and I for being away so often?"

Sakura shakes her head, pushing long, messy pink hair from her face to see her eldest brother easier. "I'm not mad..."

Hashirama stares down at her for a long moment, his long brown hair pooling around his arm underneath his head. "Did you miss us, then?"

Sakura nods. It was true. She didn't go out there because she was mad at them, she just decided to go back to bed. Perhaps subconsciously she wanted to see if her brothers would come see her. Maybe in a way she felt a bit neglected. She knew that this was important and that it would be taking a great deal of their time away from her, but it didn't mean that she wouldn't miss them.

But there was something else bothering her...

"Would aniki still love me if I weren't me...?" Sakura asks.

Hashirama looks surprised by that, blinking a few times in confusion. "I don't understand, Sakura. What do you mean?"

"Aniki only loves me because I'm Sakura. If I wasn't, you wouldn't love me, right?" Sakura looks up into Hashirama's large dark brown-eyes-turned-black in the lack of light. When it didn't appear as though he understood, she tried again, "If aniki didn't find me all those years ago and we just met one day, aniki wouldn't love me, would you?"

Hashirama looks thoroughly thrown off by that. "Where did this come from, Sakura?"

Sakura pouts. "Answer the question, Hashirama-ani..."

Hashirama stares down at her for a long time, an unreadable look on his face. After a long silence, the two siblings in name only, just staring at each other, Hashirama finally says, "I don't know. I'm not sure how I would feel. But isn't it enough to know that I do love you? Tobirama too? It's not a matter of what-if's in this case. If we had never met, or if we met later on in life. None of that matters, I think. We did meet almost eight years ago, and on that day, you became our imouto and we became your aniki." He smiles softly. "It didn't matter then that there was no blood ties. Even now, I don't think that matters. Do you remember what I said about the Will of Fire?"

Sakura nods slowly. "Yes..."

"Tell me," Hashirama says softly.

"Those that believe in the Will of Fire are all connected by an invisible thread, all those connected by that thread are family," Sakura says softly. She scoots further back on the pillow, away from Hashirama and inviting him to lay his head on the pillow. A good portion of Sakura's childhood, and even her teenage years is, and was, spent hanging onto her brothers - especially Hashirama. She loved Tobirama, without a doubt, but out of the two brothers, Hashirama was by far the most affectionate and would practically bend over backwards for her.

Tobirama is a little more strict than Hashirama and isn't the overly affectionate one. Sakura can hang off Tobirama 24-7 if she wanted, but unlike Hashirama, he wasn't the type to really cuddle back. Hashirama would scoop Sakura up in his arms and hold her like a baby, even as a teenager, whereas Tobirama would pat her top of the head and murmur soft, loving words for only her to hear. He wasn't as outspoken about his affection and Sakura could respect that.

Hashirama scoots over to the pillow, laying on his back over the covers, turning his head toward Sakura. "That's right, little blossom. I'm not sure how our lives would be like if we hadn't met all those years ago, I can't even begin to imagine, but what I do know is that I love you. Tobirama loves you and we are a family. Is it alright for that to be enough?"

Sakura nods, smiling softly. "Yes. I love you, aniki."

Hashirama grins, straight white teeth practically glowing in the dark. "I love you too, my cute little imouto. More than even Tobirama, but don't say anything to him. He's easily jealous. My two cute siblings just want aniki's love," he says, sighing. He turns to look up at the ceiling, still grinning. Sakura barks out a laugh, able to practically feel Tobirama rolling his eyes from the other room where he's no doubt listening in. "I live a very rough life," Hashirama says.

Sakura giggles softly into the darkness, it being a light sound slowly fading away into silence. After a minute of silence, Hashirama lifts his arm up, laying it across the pillow. Sakura lifts her head and scoots closer to her brother, resting her head onto his shoulder and curls up on his side.

"Koharu said she'll stay with us and learn our ways..." Sakura says into the fabric of Hashirama's crisp white haori. Sakura has to wonder if her brother is hot in that extra jacket, but he doesn't seem to mind.

"That's wonderful," Hashirama says, smiling again. "She and her lovely mother are welcome to join us. I'll have to go see them in the morning before my schedule becomes too hectic." He spoke those last words more to himself than Sakura, so she doesn't comment. Although, she is happy that Hashirama sees no issues in allowing the girl and her mother to come along with them to their new home.

"Good night, Hashirama-ani," Sakura says softly, snuggling closer to her oldest brother.

"Good night, Sakura," Hashirama says equally as soft, adjusting himself until he's comfortable. He kisses Sakura's forehead before continuing, "Sleep now, little one, I'll stay until you fall asleep. The next few days will be especially hectic as the Uchiha will be arriving soon and then we can all get going. But there is no need to worry yourself about things like that. Just sleep, Tobi and I will take care of everything... I mean that."

Sakura nods slowly, curling closer to her brother before letting herself drift off to sleep to the soft baritone of her brother's voice.


	8. Cherry Blossom Flames

Madara was right. They didn't have much time to even see each other before Sakura's sixteenth birthday rolls around. It was exciting and nerve-wracking to be moving the clans in together on this new land. It took forever to finally get everyone onto the new land, but once everyone got there it was finally about settling down and starting their lives. Together. It turned out to be a good thing to have the two clans travel together to the new home. It gave them time to get to know each other and rely on one another when all they had was each other. The shinobi walked around the perimeter of the group, keeping wild animals and bandits away from the noncombatant clan members.

Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara and Izuna led the group, monitoring frequent stops and where and when they would set up camp for the night. If the Shinobi were to make the run themselves, they would have made it there within two or three days, but by walking, with children and elderly and even some pregnant women slowed the group down immensely. It took about three weeks to finally get to the new home. All the remaining time was trying to get acclimated.

Before Sakura knew it, her birthday was just weeks away and was now the talk of the two clans. Because, as Madara had also predicted, the Uchiha were gunning for Sakura's birthday to also be her wedding day. Sakura didn't get any time to talk to Madara, Hashirama or Tobirama. In fact, the one she ended up spending the most time with, was Izuna.

It was surprisingly easy becoming friends with Izuna. She spent a good portion of her time sitting in the warm grass and watching Izuna retraining his body. There was a lot of physical exercises and meditation. A lot of meditation, which is the time Sakura usually dedicates to braiding his hair and weaving flowers into it, much to his chagrin. He kept shrugging her away the first dozen times, but after a while, he just begrudgingly bared it, waiting until his meditation was over before undoing the braid and shaking the flowers from his hair.

Sometimes, he gives Sakura a bit of training; pulls her along for the runs, her trailing with flailing arms behind him, sometimes he'll make her do push ups and sit ups and sometimes meditation. Sakura's not all that good at training and knows that she frustrates Izuna immensely, but he doesn't turn her away when she seeks him out while her brothers are busy. Maybe he felt that he owed it tor her for saving his life, or perhaps he wanted to smooth over their strange relationship for the sake of Sakura's marriage to Madara, either way, it all worked out.

Izuna is actually extremely kind. Sakura isn't very shinobi-savvy but Izuna is, and Sakura asks him a lot of question. For the most part, she doesn't really care, it was just a way of killing time, but Izuna seemed to like her inquiring about things. Or perhaps more like he liked that she was asking him. Sakura gets the impression that not a lot of people go to him to ask for help. Even though he's really smart, and he knows a lot about jutsus and chakra and all around shinobi aspects, no one really asks him for much.

Sakura has to wonder if Izuna has a future of being a teacher. Sakura may not be getting much from this, but someone would be so very fortunate to have him as a teacher. Someone who knows nothing about shinobi life. Someone like Koharu.

"Sakura-sama!" One of Sakura's female cousins call out to her, making her freeze, wondering if she stood still enough they wouldn't see her.

"I can see you, naughty Princess," Lia says. "Now get your little behind up here so that we can get you prepared for your wedding preparations." Sakura can practically see the older woman putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.

Sakura looks around, for some reason, any reason, to avoiding her crazy, cranky aunt. But there was nothing around her and she could already see in Izuna's big black eyes that he was not going to protect her. In the short time he's known Lia Senju, he's learned to steer clear of her whilst she is on the war path. It's just a lot safer that way.

Sakura takes a slow, exaggerated step away from her aunt, but the woman calls out to her sharply. A strict, "Princess!" Sakura jumps before turning around to face her aunt before letting her shoulders droop and bowing her head and walking toward her in surrender. Lia shakes her head slowly, hands still planted firmly on her hips before raising her eyes to Izuna and tips her head a bit in respectful greeting, which he respectfully returned, before turning her attention back to the slowly approaching princess of the Senju clan.

"Come now, Princess, let's go," Lia says, putting a hand on Sakura's lower back to guide her away. Sakura looks over her shoulder as she goes, waving to Izuna. He waves a bit in return, smiling sympathetically, before continuing his chakra control exercises.

 

As the wedding drew near, the excitement became palpable between the two clans. It was a solid unity for the clans and a good way to really kick off the new alliance, should everything go well. Sakura has been spending a lot of time with her aunt and Madara's aunt, a woman about Lia's age with long black hair pulled up into an intricate knot on the top of her head with pitch black eyes and a blotchy white birthmark on her throat named Yayamei, learning about how to act and what to do during the ceremony. She was taught how to walk and talk, what exactly she was to say, and even started getting her fitted for her wedding kimono. Sakura had a lot of nice clothes, but none of them could be worn to her own wedding.

Plus, she needed something that would represent how she is a Senju, becoming an Uchiha.

"Is there anything you have in mind?" Yayamei asks, crossing her arms over her chest as Lia walks around the pink haired girl, measuring her body for her kimono fitting.

"Ah?"

"For your kimono, my lady," Yayamei says simply. "Is there something you have in mind for the design?"

Sakura actually hadn't given much thought to her kimono design and actually didn't really care. She shrugs her shoulders. It was something that she was only going to wear once, it didn't really matter what it looked liked. "You choose."

Lia and Yayamei both stare at Sakura for a long time, as if both of them expected her to take her words back and just tell them what she wanted, but she didn't. She just stared back at them, shrugging her shoulders again. Both women look at each other before Lia steps in front of Sakura and narrows her eyes down at the pink haired girl.

"Princess, I promised Hashirama-sama that I would be kind and deal with you with a gentle hand so I will say this in the nicest way I can," Lia says slowly, staring into Sakura's eyes to show she's serious, making the pink haired girl bow a bit under the woman's intense gaze. "You must go now and think very carefully about what you want your kimono to look like. We are running out of time and we can't waste any more of the precious seconds on your flippant attitude. This is a symbol to both families about this union. You are the second-in-line heiress to the Senju clan and soon will be the matriarch of the Uchiha clan. This is greatly important and if you don't start taking it seriously you may ruin this for everyone," Lia says sternly, eyes narrowing further.

Sakura blinks rapidly, not knowing what to say. She hadn't expected to get yelled at today. She had been doing everything Lia and Yayamei had asked of her since the preparations began, making all sorts of decision without really knowing. Madara was no help at all. Every time he was called in to make a decision on something Sakura couldn't decide on, he would sent a messenger telling them that he couldn't be there because of work and trusted that whatever Sakura decided would be fine with him.

Yayamei would grumble under her breath about the lack of communication now-a-days, but that did little to help Sakura. She has been making so many decisions about a wedding that she wasn't even all that sure she knew what to think about it, and it was wearing down on her. She just wanted it to happen so that they could return to their normal lives.

Sakura didn't think that she was being flippant about anything, she was just done making decisions. She was tired of it. She wanted someone else to make some decisions too. And when she said that, she was yelled at for it. On some level she can understand that it's important, the kimono, because of what it represents, but Sakura has gone through a life where she never really had to make any decisions and now she was making all of them and she didn't know what to think. She was stressed out and tired. There was so much to remember and she couldn't seem to please her aunt or Madara's and that was even more frustrating. She hasn't been able to hang out with Izuna in a few days, especially since he began to teach Koharu in the ways of the shinobi, and has been cramped in-doors. Ignored, and if she's not being ignored, she's being yelled at. This wasn't the first time she was chastised.

She hasn't spoken to Madara since she started doing preparations for the wedding, and she's only caught fleeting glances of her brothers. She hated this, all of this. It was a pain she didn't want to deal with.

But she would, because it would be for Hashirama and Tobirama. This was for them and the future of both of the clans. She wanted the Uchiha to be happy too, alongside the Senju. She wanted all of them to be friends, like Hashirama and Madara.

So, she'll suck it up and keep going, keep making decisions. For everyone's sake.

"Okay," Sakura finally says. "I'll think."

Lia nods once, curtly. "Good. We are done for the day. Go on now, come back here tomorrow morning, same as all week, and tell us your decision so that we can start making it."

Sakura nods, running for the door as fast as she can, hoping to get out of there before either of the woman can ask anything more of her today. She wants to go home and sleep. Sleep and forget all of this.

But she can't. She had some thinking to do.

So Sakura heads home. It was no longer at the top of a hill over-looking the rest of camp, but rather nestled safely in a corner by the mountain side, surrounded by the trees. Hashirama's natural element. Very little can go on in a near-by forest that Hashirama doesn't know about. She lays down and folds her hands behind her head, enjoying the heat of the sun beating down on her as she closes her eyes. Sakura relaxes almost immediately. She didn't realize how tired she was until she had finally laid down and stopped moving.

In the midst of slipping in and out of consciousness, Sakura dreamed of her mother, Dallia - because no one could replace the white haired woman in Sakura's heart, ever - standing beneath a large light pink cherry blossom tree. It was night out, the stars were bright above it, but the tree appeared to be glowing in the moonlight a pretty pink. Sakura walks closer to the white haired woman, wearing a beautiful pure dark kimono with white flowers that also appear to be glowing. Dallia looked ethereal.

She looks, to Sakura, like she had a glowing halo around her head. She was practically glowing all over and there was a gentle smile on her lips that Sakura saw too much and too little as a child. Sakura didn't have the pleasure of knowing her for long, but Sakura deeply loved Dallia and missed her greatly. Dallia was beautiful and kind and was like a beacon of light in the midst of the bloody war.

She was taken too soon. She was too good and the darkness consumed her.

"Mama," Sakura whispers, walking toward the beautiful white haired woman, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, baby girl," Dallia says, smiling gently, holding a hand out for Sakura to take. She does, and it's just as she remembers. Dallia had small, thin hands that were easily able to wrap around Sakura's little hand. "My boys as well. Are you taking care of them?"

Sakura tilts her head to the side in confusion. "You mean; are they taking care of you, right?"

Dallia shakes her head. "No, sweet girl. I meant exactly as I said. I didn't bring you into our family, a strange little girl with no past and no name, just for you?" She smiles a bit more. "I'm a bit more selfish than that. I brought you in for my family. I had just lost my little Kawarama and in some ways, I was looking for a way to ease my pain by bringing you in. But also my little boys' pain too. Especially Hashirama. He's such a gentle soul, my Hashirama is. He lives solely for others, thriving to care, love and protect them. After losing his baby brother, there was hole in his heart that couldn't easily be filled."

Sakura looks at the woman who used to be so much taller than her, is now the same height as Sakura. She's grown so much more than she thought. An invisible breeze that ruffles the large tree's leaves and branches along with Sakura and Dallia's hair and clothes. But Sakura couldn't feel it on her skin. The breeze was all inside her head. It wasn't real. But Dallia didn't feel not real. She felt exactly as Sakura remembered. Sounded like it too.

"I was sent to heal him?" Sakura asks softly.

Dallia tilts her head a bit. "I would like to believe so. Tobirama too, he greatly loves cute things, beneath that gruff aditude," she giggles. "But perhaps I'm romanticize that amazing occurrence for my own sake. I'm not sure if it was just an accident or if it truly was fate that brought you to us, but I'd like to believe the latter of the two. Sent to heal us all."

Sakura frowns at that, doubting that being the case. If anything, she's more willing to believe in the former. While she is grateful for her brothers saving her, it was truly an accident that they were there that day. Sakura probably shouldn't be here now. She was floating down the river for a reason. Either that too was an accident or someone wanted to get rid of her.

Sakura's not sure she wants to know which is true.

"My boys are okay?" Dallia asks after a long silence. Sakura nods. "And you?" Sakura nods again.

"The war is over," Sakura says softly. Dallia's entire face lights up. "I'm to be married to the Uchiha clan leader, Madara."

Dallia smiles kindly. "Do you like him?"

"He is nice," Sakura says. Sakura blinks in confusion at Dallia's bland look. "What?"

"Please don't tell me you said that to him..."

Sakura pauses for a moment, remembering sleeping up on the hill outside her home in the Senju camp. She remembered her conversation with Madara back at her other home and the look on his face when she told him that she thought he was nice. The answer must have shown on her face for Dallia lets out a long winded sigh, pushing long strands of white hair away from her face before she smiled sympathetically at Sakura.

"You have much to learn about boys, my lovely little girl," she says, shaking her head. "Boys, especially husbands-to-be, don't want to hear that their most interesting quality is that they happen to tread people with kindness. While it is important, it is just a small part of who they are. You'll come to learn that soon, I think."

Sakura has never had a dream like this before, meeting her mother beneath a cherry blossom tree. Or, at all in her dreams. Sakura didn't want to question why she was suddenly seeing her mother for fear the logical part of her mind will correct the mistake and make the dream of her mother disappear.

"I have to design my kimono, mama, what do I do?" Sakura asks, squeezing the gentle white haired woman's hand.

Dallia takes a moment to consider before looking up at the cherry blossom tree blowing in the invisible tree before lowering her gaze back to Sakura and smiling kindly. "I think you should stick with something simple. Something that you know. Something symbolic, but relatable. You are becoming an Uchiha. You are becoming part of the flame."

Sakura stares at her for a long moment, letting the words sink in before the design comes to her. She steps closer and wraps her arms around the woman that took her in and took a moment to really enjoy the feeling of her memory of her mother before pulling away, smiling brightly at the woman that loved her right away. "I love you, mama."

Dallia smiles. "And I love you, my little girl."

"Goodbye," she says softly.

Dallia kisses Sakura's cheek before stepping back, closer to the trunk of tree.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura opens her eyes, blearily, her entire body stiff from sleeping in the same position on the hard ground for however long she had. It was late into the evening and Hashirama was leaning over her, big brown eyes wide.

"Aniki...?" Sakura croaks, her voice strained from disuse and thirst.

"Why are you sleeping outside?"

Sakura holds her arms out for her big brother, noticing immediately that her dream mother was right. Hashirama smiles happily and scoops Sakura into his arms easily. Hashirama carries her toward their home while Sakura wraps her arms around his neck, laying her cheek against the top of his shoulder, locking eyes with Tobirama who was following behind him. It wasn't until she saw her again, but Sakura couldn't believe how much Tobirama looked like their mother. It wasn't just because they were both albino. A lot of her features he shared.

Eye shape and long lashes, lip shape and even shade. Even his nose was just like hers. That was something both brothers' shared. As unfortunate as it was, Hashirama didn't share nearly as many of Dallia's features that Tobirama did. But aside from the nose all three shared, there was also their fingers. All of them had long, skinny fingers. Hashirama's and Tobirama's are only stronger from years of hard work, hand signs, and sword-play.

"Tobi," Sakura says softly, making twin red eyes stay locked on her.

"Yes?"

"I saw Mama in my dreams," Sakura says.

A single white eyebrow quirks up. She could feel Hashirama turn his head slightly toward her, showing he was also listening in. "Oh?" Tobirama says. "And what did you and her do in your dreams?"

"We talked about the wedding. About Hashirama-ani and Tobirama-ani. About when I showed up."

"That is a lot," Hashirama says softly.

"Mama said I didn't know anything about boys," Sakura says, feeling her eyelashes brush against Hashirama's neck, making his skin prickle and get a little shiver from him.

"Good," Tobirama and Hashirama says at once. Hashirama turns around a bit to look at the white haired brother and laughs before turning back forward.

Sakura closes her arms for a moment, easily falling back to sleep in the protective warmth of her big brother before an image came to her. An image from her dream: her kimono design. Sakura immediately flails around, scaring Hashirama.

"I need parchment and ink!" She wiggles out of his arms and runs into the house, essentially ripping it apart until she found what she needed and dropped to the floor right there and began to draw, slowly, carefully, because she was no artist and had to be careful. Hashirama scoots closer, carefully, trying not to distract their mission-focused little sister while she works, but she's so far hunched over the paper that it's hard to see anything so he dejectedly goes to sit by the fire with Tobirama.

Sakura pushes some stubborn pink strands of hair from her face and studies her drawing. Once she's certain that it looks like what she wants, she's on her feet and out of the home, looking for her strict aunt. Once she finds her, after nearly knocking down her uncle and having him take Sakura to her, she holds out the scroll for Lia to take. She does and opens it, looking at it curiously. Sakura stood there, wringing her hands nervously as her aunt took in the drawing, trying to understand the design before a smile crosses her lips and she looks up at Sakura.

"Good job, Princess. This is perfect. I will get started on this tonight. Thank you for getting it to me so quickly." Sakura nods briskly before running away quickly before she's given any more wedding tasks to do.

 

"Are you nervous?" Madara asks, turning slightly to look over at Sakura. They were sitting on top of the mountain over-looking their new home almost two weeks since Sakura turned in the design for her kimono. Madara brought Sakura up here, quietly insisting that there would be no other way for them to spend time together if they stayed were his clansmen and their issues could easily find him. "About the wedding tomorrow, I mean?"

Sakura pulls her eyes away from watching the ant-sized Uchiha and Senju clans walking around beneath to Madara's pretty black eyes. "I don't know. Are you?"

Madara sighs. "No. Well, maybe. I know I was the one to say that we should spend some time together, yet we haven't really been able to. I'm sorry. I really did want to keep my word but starting a village..." he sighs again, "it's a lot harder than I originally thought it would be."

"Are you okay?" Sakura asks. Madara blinks in surprise, obviously not expecting that question.

"Um," he says, looking away with coloring cheeks. "Yes, I'm fine." He scratches at his pale throat, leaving red lines in their wake. "How about you? Are you okay...?"

Sakura nods. "I'm okay. I hate planning, though."

Madara looks over at her, curiously. "You mean the wedding?" Sakura nods again. "I bet," he murmurs. "I'm sorry that most... or all, of the decisions have been left to you in regards to the wedding. I'm not very... um, well, even if you have no experience in this what so ever, you're still the smarter choice to be making all of these decisions. Sorry."

Sakura combs her fingers through her multi-layered pink hair. "It's okay." A pause, then, "I've spent a lot of time with Izuna."

Madara nods. "Yeah, he was telling me that. Are you two getting along well?"

Sakura looks at him. "Yes. I watch him train and sometimes train with him. He's a good teacher. He's started training Koharu."

Madara crosses his arms over his chest, looking down at the camp beneath them. It's starting to look like a village... sorta. People are bustling about and working together, shinobi are patrolling, scaring away animals and keeping their eyes open for any other threats. It was early evening the night before Sakura and Madara's wedding and people are running around getting it all set up.

Usually, the ceremony would follow the husband's family traditions since Sakura was entering that family, but Madara said at the very beginning that he didn't mind mixing the traditions. So, Yayamei and Lia both planned out the wedding doing just that. So, per Senju tradition, the wedding ceremony would be held at noon and the celebration would go all the way until midnight, per Uchiha tradition. It was going to be a long day, but everyone seemed so excited for it, so Sakura wasn't going to complain.

"Yeah," Madara says slowly, pulling Sakura from her thoughts. "Hashirama asked me if he would be willing to start teaching her the basics. I thought for sure when I asked him, he'd be a brat about it... but he didn't. He just... said okay." He narrows his eyes in thought before looking over at Sakura. "What did your transference ability do to Izuna? He's a bit different."

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. "I just removed the curse. I did nothing to his personality."

Madara uncrosses his arms and places his hands behind himself, leaning back a bit. "I thought so. So does that mean that curse you found in Izuna and I was somehow affecting his personality?"

Sakura interlaces her fingers on her lap. "I don't know. When we were in his mind, I seemed to aggravate his curse. I don't know how much it affected his personality, but I think it had something to do with his anger toward us Senju. Where he got it and what exactly it was doing, I don't know. Your curse was similar to him, but wasn't active like his. Curious."

Madara lets out a long whoosh of breath. "Yeah." There is a long pause before he quietly admits, "Izuna's always been my weakness, and he's known it. He was always so mad that I felt like it was wrong to try and be happy. Now... now he's happy, at peace and I feel..." He makes a strange noise, as if both embarrassed and unsure why he's telling Sakura this.

"Strange?" Sakura guesses.

Madara shrugs, clamming up, obviously not used to talking about his feelings. Sakura stared at the side of his head, making him shift uncomfortable for a few moments before he admits, "Maybe. I don't know how to be happy, I guess."

Sakura scoots a bit closer to him and smiles kindly up at him. "I'm sure you'll find a way. I can help you if you want."

Sakura meant it to be genuine. She really did want to help Madara. She may not know much about boys, which was strange since she spent practically all her time with her brothers, but she honestly wanted her eldest brother's best friend and her future husband to be happy. But when she said those words, instead of smiling and being happy like she wanted, he jerked his chin sharply away from her.

Sakura blinks a few time before looking away with a frown on her lips.

"I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time together these last few months," Madara says again, still not looking at her, though Sakura spies a single ear peaking out between the black mop of hair to see the tips of it being red. "I'll make it up to you, somehow."

"It's okay," Sakura says. She wasn't exactly hurt by him not being around, but it did kind of suck not being able to see her brothers. She knew they were all busy so she wasn't going to complain, but she did feel bad about not getting to better know Madara before they were going to be legally bound together. Perhaps that's what he was feeling bad about too.

Sakura's stomach growls, rather loudly, making Madara turn his chin back toward her, blinking a few times as if unsure what he head. "Hungry?" He asks. Sakura nods, blushing a bit. Madara stands up smoothly, holding a hand out for Sakura to take. She does and he helps her down the mountain. Sakura never would have been able to make it up there by herself and surely wouldn't be able to make it down just short of falling from a height that would kill her.

"Are you hungry, Madara?" Sakura asks as they head down to the camp.

"No," Madara says simply, then to the wind, barely loud enough for Sakura to hear, "but you are." Sakura doesn't say anything else and just follows closely behind him, linking her elbow with his to stay standing. Madara doesn't acknowledge the movement other than to hold his arm more steadily for her sake.

 

"You look beautiful, my lady," Yayamei says, stepping back next to Lia. Both were dressed in beautiful, long sleeved celebratory kimonos, with their respected clan symbols on their backs. Lia grabs the large veil and walks over to Sakura. She sticks the small white comb into the bun on the back of Sakura's head bringing it forward to cover Sakura's face. Lia then walks around her, fluffing the longer, curled, bottom half of Sakura's hair, making sure everything looks perfect.

Sakura's design, while poorly drawn, came to life in Lia's capable hands. Her kimono was primarily white with an obi like fire around her waist. It was a splash of orange, red and yellow. Around Sakura's upper torso, above the obi, is fluttering pink cherry blossom peddles flowing downward to her feet, passing through the obi they are surrounded by beautiful fire that doesn't burn away the peddles, but enhances them. Makes them radiate. Even her sleeves go from regular fluttering peddles to ones bathed in fire.

"Princess," Lia says, twisting one of the loose curls around her shoulders, moving a bit of Sakura's fringe away from her face, "you are the most beautiful bride I've seen since... since..."

"Mama...?" Sakura asks softly, looking at her aunt. Lia blinks a few times in surprise before nodding slowly, smiling faintly.

"Yes, your mother was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen. She would be so proud of you if she were here now." Lia holds her hands in front of herself, stepping back a bit to give Sakura some room to touch the long sleeves of her kimono that nearly reach the ground.

"I miss her," Sakura says. She hadn't seen her mother since that single dream she had with her. "I wish she was here."

Lia nods, smiling fainter. "Yes. Me too."

"Knock, knock," Hashirama says, peaking into the room, dressed in his finest kimono with the Senju clan symbol large and proud on his back, looking around. "Is everyone decent in here...?" He trails off, eyes landing on Sakura. Yayamei and Lia step aside as Hashirama walks into the room slowly, walking closer to Sakura, as if he moved too quickly, Sakura would shatter like glass. Hashirama lightly touches her chin through the thin veil and tilts it up so that he can look into her eye.

"Sakura-chan," he whispers, stepping back a bit to look over her entirety, taking in the kimono, made up hair and make-up before finishing, "you are so beautiful. Madara is the luckiest man on the planet."

Sakura opens her arms and wraps them around the waist of her eldest brother, making sure not to press her face too tightly to not smear her make-up and ruin the veil. "I love you, Hashirama-ani," Sakura whispers, wondering what this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach was. Why did it feel like everything was changing? Like today was the end of something? Like she was somehow having to say goodbye to something?

"I love you too, Imouto," Hashirama says, squeezing her tightly. "Tobirama," Hashirama calls over his shoulder, "come and see our little imouto!"

There was a moment of silence before Tobirama stepped into the room, also dressed in his finest garbs, eyes locking onto Sakura. Tobirama didn't move any closer, just stood back and stared at her with the softest expression Sakura's ever seen. Hashirama smiles faintly at Tobirama.

"We should get this wedding started," Tobirama says, eyes still locked on Sakura, "everyone is waiting."

Hashirama nods, looking down at Sakura, then to Lia and Yayamei, "Thank you, Auntie, Yayamei-san, for all of your help these last few weeks." Both bow respectfully before leaving. Tobirama steps aside and lets them pass. "I have to go wait with Madara," Hashirama says to Tobirama, "are you ready to give her away?"

Tobirama nods, holding a hand out for Sakura to take. She does and steps closer to him. "I am. We'll see you there, brother," Tobirama says evenly. Hashirama nods, kissing the top of Sakura's head before putting a hand on Tobirama's shoulder, smiles secretly at him, before leaving. Once Hashirama is gone, Tobirama pulls Sakura into his arms and hugs her tightly. "You're beautiful," he says softly before quickly releasing her. "Make sure Madara treats you well," he says, "I'll kill him if he doesn't."

The feeling in Sakura's stomach intensifies a bit. "Tobi..?" Skaura asks softly, eyebrows pulling together.

Tobirama reaches into his left sleeve and pulls out a kunai and hands it to Sakura. It was one of Tobirama's special kunai. Sakura takes it slowly, staring at it dumbly, not sure what he wanted her to do with it.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Tobirama says, closing her hand around it tightly. "I'm not sending you on some secret mission to kill Madara or anything. I'm giving you this as protection. You... you're entering a different light now that you are becoming a clan Lady. As the wife of a clan leader you've become a bigger target than when you were the little sister of the Senju clan leader. You are responsible for producing the future heirs and heiress of the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha had some semblance of honor, especially under Madara's rule that women and children were off limits, but that's not always the case."

"Tobi...?" Sakura says again, looking down at their hands locked around his kunai before looking back up at her brother, eyes wide.

Tobirama lets out a long winded sigh. "Don't worry about it. Just keep it with you always. If you need me, no matter the circumstances or time of day, send chakra into that seal. I'll know, and I'll be there. No matter what." He takes a moment to suck in a calming breath before all the tension that had built up in his shoulders relax. "Just keep it on you. Always. Hide it now and tell Madara about it later, I'm sure he'll agree." He helps her hide the kunai in the folds of her kimono before taking her hand and leading her to the door.

The ceremony takes place by the nearby, large lake close to the Uchiha's side of the camp. The trees are decorated with bright streamers and lanterns for later on tonight. There is a straight path that leads to just before the recently constructed dock that leads into the lake. A small canopy was set up at the end of the path with Madara, Hashirama and an Uchiha elder that Sakura didn't know the name of standing at the end. Lining either side of the five foot width path is both clans, Uchiha on the right and Senju, along with Koharu and her mother, on the left sitting a top mats with their legs tucked underneath them all.

Koharu catches Sakura's eye and smiles brilliantly at her, mouthing "good luck" before tipping her head down a bit in respect.

It's quiet as Sakura, with Tobirama on her left arm walking down the path, listening to the soft whisper of the back of her long kimono sweeping against the ground behind her. Madara and Hashirama both watch her from the end. Hashirama's eyes are glistening with proud tears and he's trying to contain his jubilant smile while Madara's eyes are impossibly dark eyes are locked on her, appreciating her and her kimono. He's in dark blue garbs with the Uchiha fan on the ends of both sleeves and no doubt on the back and the hair that usually covers half of his face is pinned back so that his face is un-obscured.

Sakura smiles, lifting her hand a bit and wiggling her fingers in greeting. Madara's intense look softens slightly and he nods very shallowly in return.

Sakura trips, arms flailing around trying to regain her balance. Tobirama manages to keep her upright. Everyone around jumps in surprise and freezes. Hashirama's hands go flying to his face to cover his surprise, Madara freezes completely, eyes wide and Izuna, who was knelt just to the left of Madara, sucks his lips into his mouth to cover the bark of laughter that escaped him. Practically the entire Senju side flushes in embarrassment for this clumsy princess while all the Uchiha look at them with wide eyes.

Flushing in embarrassment as well, Sakura tries to recover by almost trips over the bottom of her kimono and flails outward again, this time wacking the side of Tobirama's mouth with a loud "bop!", making Hashirama fall to his knees, busting out laughing, crying now for an entirely different reason. Madara just stares with wide eyes, as if unsure of what he was seeing while Izuna was doubled over, laughing almost as loudly as Hashirama. The Senju clan is practically paling as a whole as their clan leader and Princess make asses of them.

Tobirama looks on the verge of murdering Hashirama with the level of ire his glare is directed toward the childish clan leader as he tries to get Sakura's feet under her and continue this now embarrassing walk of shame to the stupefied groom at the end.

"Did you hear the sound the side of Tobirama's head made?" Hashirama asks in-between his barks of laughter.

"It was like a loud bopping noise!" Izuna says, rubbing tears away from the corner of his eyes before mimicking the noise and making them both bust out laughing with new vigor. Now that everyone was getting over their initial shock, some people were chuckling softly.

"Kami-damned imbeciles," Tobirama mutters, helping Sakura along. The Uchiha elder behind Madara was leaning away, trying to school his features. Madara looked now like he was in great pain, his entire rigid. One of the Uchiha looked at him worried, calling out softly to their paralyzed clan leader. Madara doesn't respond.

But one look at the silent Uchiha and Hashirama and Izuna both looked at each other and mimicked the noise again before laughing loudly again, this time Madara joined them, unable to contain it any longer. Madara physically turned away from them to try and smother his laugh, embarrassed by his jubilation unlike his brother and best friend, who couldn't pick themselves off the floor they were laughing too hard.

As if finally feeling the heat of Tobirama's glare, Hashirama stands up, trying to calm down, but noticeable unable to look at his little brother. Every time he does, he busts out laughing again, which sets of Izuna too. Madara has since schooled his facial features by the time an embarrassed Sakura and an equal-parts-murderous-and-embarrassed Tobirama made it to them.

"I hate you," Tobirama whispers so only Sakura, Madara, Hashirama and the Uchiha elder heard.

"I love you," Hashirama whispers back, grinning, "and noticeably more now than about an hour ago."

Tobirama mutters something so profane Sakura wondered if her refined big brother was exchange with a hussler with a foul mouth in one of the nearby villages that her anikis' didn't want her to visit anymore.

Madara takes Sakura's hand and pulls her closer to him. Tobirama goes and sits on the mat left open to Hashirama's right. Madara and Sakura turn to the Senju clan leader and Uchiha elder and knelt down onto the two mats there. Hashirama takes a moment to look between his childhood friend, who gives him a subtle nod in return for the appreciative look, and baby sister who looks up at him with bright green eyes obscured by a pure white veil.

"This is it," Hashirama says softly, smiling, his earlier mirth now replaced with loving gentleness. Obvious affection sent to both the bride and groom. He raises his eyes to the two clans along with Koharu and her mother that were staring back at him, taking a moment to lock eyes with all of them before addressing the crowd, "Thank you all for coming to this momentous occasion. Goofiness and just a bit too long kimono aside, I do hope that there will be a lot more those moments in the feature. Moments of laughter and happiness, shared not only between the bride and groom, but between the family. I firmly believe that no one else in the world deserves love more than my best friend Madara, and no one could ever make him happier than my lovely and uncoordinated little imouto. I'm honored to say after today that Madara won't be my best friend and brother in spirit, but also in a legal sense."

He smiles down at Madara, who stares up at him with a soft expression. The unease in Sakura's gut lifts and she smiles.

"Are you ready?" Hashirama asks Madara. The black haired clan leader nods, seeming completely relaxed.

"Yes," he says.

"And you, imouto?" Hashirama asks.

Sakura nods, enjoying the happiness that was in the air, even if it was at Tobirama and the Senju clan's expense, for a moment, there wasn't a single worry in the world that mattered. They were all together, celebrating the physical unity of their two clans. Two clans that just last year were at each other's throats without a peaceful end in sight. But here they were now.

At the beginning of a new era. Hopefully a peaceful one. Sakura is confident in the future that her eldest brother and Madara envisioned. There will be peace, Sakura can just sense it.

As happy as Sakura is, there was an aching darkness at the edge of her vision. While she could see peace in the future, a great fear came over her suddenly, making her entire body shake. Madara glances over at her, scoot closer to share his body warmth with her, even in the middle of summer there was a cool breeze.

Something was over the horizon. The shiver wasn't because of the cold, though, it was almost like the cherry blossoms on Sakura's kimono. It felt like she was engulfed in flames. A heat that was both foreign and familiar. And even though up to this point Sakura didn't fear fire, she was beginning to develop this sudden, horrible, irrational fear, in seconds.

Sakura was frightened of being burned alive.

All of the color drains from her face as this horrible heat crawls up her legs and arms, coating her entire body. She didn't realize she had started shaking until an arm wrapped around her shoulders, chasing the angry heat away with a gentle warmth. Sakura looks over at Madara, who was staring at her with a deep frown on his lips.

"Do you not want to do this?" Madara asks softly beneath Hashirama's speech above them. He wasn't judging her, wasn't accusing her. Sakura saw it in his eyes, if she told him she didn't want this, he would stop it immediately and never ask for an explanation. But that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to unite the clans and make sure everyone was happy.

Sakura smiles, feeling her body relax. "I'm okay. I want this."

Madara's frown deepens a bit more but he nods slowly, submitting to her will. "Just... tell me if you want to stop. At any time. You... um, don't have to be... afraid of me, or anything..."

Sakura squeezes his hand, smiling at him. "Madara is kind." Madara turns his attention forward with a droll look on his face. Sakura raises an eyebrow at it, but he shakes his head dismissively in favor of listening to Hashirama talk about unity. It didn't take long for the look to disappear and tentative, hopeful look cross his dark eyes. Madara wanted this to work too, undoubtedly more than Sakura.

This was part of his dream, after all.


	9. Madara is kind

"Alright," Hashirama says, looking down at Sakura and Madara, face glowing with pride, "Sakura-chan, Madara, turn toward each other now." Sakura and Madara obey, turning on their pillows toward one another, Madara finally releasing his hold over her shoulders. She smiles at him a little, and he smiles faintly in return before Hashirama continues, "Sakura, take Madara's hand and write the characters of your name, Sakura Senju into his palm."

Sakura obeys, reaching out to take Madara's hand. It's far larger than hers and stronger, laced with thick callouses from ears of wielding weapons and scars from being bitten by said weapons. Most are thin and white, old scars no doubt from childhood, when he was still inexperienced and his weapons fought back against him. His nails are short but clean, groomed nicely despite being in war.

She does as she was told and begins to write her name into his palm in the proper kanji. Slowly, softly, with the tip of her manicured nails. There is a soft scraping noise on the outside of his palm, thick with calluses from swords and other weapons, and the very center of his palm is soft. She's focused on his palm, but can feel his heated stare on her forehead, watching her curiously.

Once she finishes, she peaks up at him through her long lashes. Madara stares back at Sakura with large, bottomless black eyes. She smiles cutely up at him and the gentlest look crosses his face. His mile long lashes lower a bit over his eyes.

"And now, Madara, do the same to Sakura," Hashirama says.

Sakura offers her left hand for him to use. He puts the pointer finger of his right hand onto her palm and slowly, carefully, begins to write his name. But he has to keep stopping every few seconds because of Sakura's giggling and jerking of her hand away. After the fourth time while still writing out the first kanji, his black eyes peak up at her from beneath the carpet of hair around his head.

"Tickles?" He asks.

Sakura nods, trying to smother her smile and holds her hand back out for her. This time he holds it in place with the other hand, stopping her from pulling away but smiling faintly each time she tries and giggles softly.

Finally, Madara manages to get his name on her palm before looking up at Hashirama. The soft, happy look on Madara's face is immediately turned into a blanched expression upon seeing Hashirama teasing grin down at him. Hashirama opens his mouth, probably about to say something that will no doubt piss off the Uchiha clan leader, but then decides against it before looking over at Sakura.

"Alright Sakura, now, write your name on Madara's palm one more time, this time with 'Uchiha' replacing 'Senju'," he says. His smile suddenly turns forlorn. At Sakura's curious look, he just shakes his head and makes a motion for her to continue. She does, tracing the kanji for her name and then 'Uchiha'.

"For our Uchiha counterparts," Hashirama says, turning his gaze toward the crowd, "and Yata that are present," he quickly adds, smiling down at Koharu and her mother, who smile back before he continues, "this tradition is a symbol for our people for acknowledging our roots and then accepting moving on to the next chapter in our lives."

"There was literally no way for you to get around those tree puns, was there?" Madara asks, still holding this droll look on his face.

Hashirama laughs and Madara's expression lightens up a bit. "Not at all, friend!" He laughs for a moment before a somber look befalls his face. "But, in all truthfulness, I asked for this tradition to be kept for it's importance. While my dearly beloved Imouto will always be a Senju in my heart, from today onwards, recognized by everyone present here, and everywhere else, including the Land of Fire, she will be an Uchiha. While both are an honor, very few people in this world will be able to say that at one point, they were both."

It took a moment for what Hashirama's words to really sink in. For perhaps everyone, but mostly Sakura. It's obvious, they've been two warring clans for over a hundred years and this is the first time in their history that a woman from one of the warring clans will officially take the name of the opposite warring clan. And it isn't a threat or for any sort of malicious purpose. But with the sole intention of one day the two of them falling in love. And not just that, but the Princess of Senju clan, the third in line, will now be held responsible for barring strong children for the opposite clan.

This wasn't a message to be feared. It was a form of permission to everyone in both clans. And it was sang loud in clear in Hashirama's knowing silence as he stared out over the people. And they realized it, looking around at each other with eyes wide and filled with wonder. A door opened before them that no one had ever really thought about before.

Hashirama, and the slowly nodding Madara, was essentially giving the Uchiha and Senju permission to fall in love with one another and should it get far enough, and should both parties desire it, marry one another.

There was soft murmurings, everyone looking around at one another, not sure how to properly react to something like that. The buzz was quiet, but excited. This was legitimate change, proof that the leaders don't view this treaty as flimsy or temporary. The chance to love anyone, literally anyone now, is finally open to both sets of clansmen. No more restrictions. Not really. Falling in love with an Uchiha for a Senju or visa versa, would get them kicked out of their clan, in best case scenario, and left to fend on their own.

Worst case, they were killed. Horribly, and shown to the lover of the opposite clan, whether they felt something in return or not.

But Hashirama and Madara are now publically saying that that will no longer be the case. Now they are all free to love.

"Now," Hashirama says after a long minute of letting his words sink into the gathered crowd, "for this next portion of the ceremony, I'll turn this over to the Uchiha elder, Kishimiya. Kishimiya," Hashirama says, stepping aside and nodding for the Uchiha elder to step forward.

"Thank you, Lord Hashirama," the elder says. "Now, as per Uchiha tradition we would like to mold the flames. This tradition is to show that the flame produced by one Uchiha can only be strengthened by the flame of another. Lady Sakura is a special case, as we were informed, that she has a hard time using elemental based chakra, but she has agreed to perform it. Usually we would have them hold the jutsu for as long as they can but under the circumstances, we will just have them perform the jutsu one after another and have them intermix. Now then, my lord, Lady Sakura? Would you both come to the edge of the dock?"

Madara stands up, holding a hand out for Sakura to take. She does and stands too. She holds tightly to him, as to not trip again, flushing again in embarrassment at remembrance of what happened earlier with Tobirama. Thankfully it's only a few steps to the edge of the dock before Sakurra lets go of Madara's arm. She looks up at him curiously.

"Do I go first?" She asks softly.

Madara shakes his head. "No, I'll go first. I can sustain a simple fireball jutsu far longer than you. We don't want you to exhaust yourself. We have a long day ahead of us," he says softly before quickly performing the needed handsigns, bringing his shoulders back and taking a deep breath. He holds it for a moment before leaning forward and spitting a stream of fire from between his lips. As it gets a few feet away from them toward the middle of the lake, the fire expands into a giant ball, growling with it's intensity.

Sakura is still amazed with the pure strength of Madara's chakra, especially his fire nature. She must have been staring long enough for Hashirama to reach forward to give her a little nudge in the ribs to pull her from her awe. She nods, doing the handsigns she was taught long ago. Thankfully when Hashirama and Tobirama were trying to teach her to do elemental style ninjutsu, the fireball technique was one of them.

Sakura does the handsigns, slowly, hoping she remembered them right. She hadn't used a jutsu in a long time. She rears back, taking a deep breath, feeling the fire flood her lungs before spitting it out. It sucks out her chakra like a vacuum, but once her fire reaches Madara's, the fireball turns into a raging inferno. Madara almost lost control of the jutsu, but somehow managed to contain it. The fireball expands immensely before Sakura has to stop, her entire body sags at the loss of the chakra in her system. Madara stops too, reaching over and taking Sakura's arm to stop her from falling over.

"That... that was..." Madara says, eyes wide, his surprise and excitement palpable. But then he takes a moment to really look at how tired just that jutsu made Sakura and calms down. "I... I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Sakura nods. "Yes. What happened with the fire?"

Madara shakes his head. "I don't know. But that is something for us to investigate later. For now, let us continue with the ceremony."

Sakura nods sluggishly, leaning on Madara as they walk back to their pillows on the ground and kneel again.

 

The remainder of the ceremony is long and boring. Sakura was leaning on Madara throughout most of it, trying to keep from falling unconscious both from the chakra exhaustion and from just how boring it was listening to people talking continuously about unity and family and pride. Madara kept his eyes closed, and if it wasn't for him supporting both Sakura and his own weight, Sakura would have assumed he'd fallen asleep long ago.

Sakura opened her eyes every few minutes but wouldn't be able to keep them open for long. Thankfully, Kishimiya, Hashirama and Madara ignored Sakura's exhaustion, kept talking like she was as alert as they were. Once the final leg of the ceremony came around, Hashirama kneels down in front of Madara and Sakura, reaching out and lightly caressing her cheek. She opens her large green eyes at the gentle and loving touch. She smiles up at Hashirama tiredly, but blinks herself awake and alert.

"Aniki...?" Sakura murmurs.

"Almost done," Hashirama says, smiling lovingly. He glances over at Madara's deep black eyes, giving a nod that is returned. He stands up and gestures for them to stand as well. Once again, Madara helps Sakura to her feet and keeps a hand around her elbow to help hold her upright. Then they turn to each other. Once more the Uchiha elder is talking about loyalty and honor and loving one another, all the while Sakura stares up into Madara impossibly black eyes. They hold each other's hands between them. His hands are large and warm, easily able to wrap around her little hands.

"Now," the Uchiha turns to Hashirama, "Lord Hashirama, do you give this girl away to the Uchiha on the basis that she will be loved and protected as one of our own as both her eldest brother and the head of not only her immediate family but also her clan?"

Hashirama's kind brown eyes flicker over to Madara's whose turn to him. "I do," Hashirama says. "As Sakura's clan leader, head of the family, but most of all, her big brother, give her to Madara Uchiha, head of the Uchiha clan with the intention to not only forge stronger bonds as allies, but also as family."

"And do you accept Lady Sakura, third in line for the Senju clan leadership, as your legal wife and bearer of your lineage, Lord Madara?"

Madara's eyes lower back to Sakura, studying her expression, looking for any sign of hesitance, anything to show him that this wasn't what she wanted. But he couldn't see anything other than exhaustion. Hashirama was right, elemental jutsu really did suck all the chakra out of her. All she could do was blink up at him, mutely.

He bows his head a bit, eyes flickering over to the elder and Hashirama. "I do," he says, voice strong and firm. Then to Sakura, "I promise to protect you and cherish you as my family, as my wife, and as my friend."

Sakura blushes at the intensity in which he looks at her, like he's looking through her. "Thank you..." she says softly.

Madara presses his lips tightly together, looking away, the tip of his ear turning red.

"Sakura," Hashirama says, bemused, looking at his childhood friend for a moment before looking down at his little sister, "will you treat the Uchiha clan as they treat you? Take their name and their beliefs, and instill those things into your own children? Will you love them as they love you and help guide your new clan into prosperity?"

Sakura nods, looking up at her eldest brother. "I will."

"Good," the Elder says. "Clan," he looks out over the Uchiha's side. "Thank the Senju for our new Lady."

They all bow low, speaking a unison, "Thank you."

"Senju, thank the Uchiha for our peaceful union of the clans," Hashirama says. Now the Senju bow, and thank the Uchiha. Both sides sit back up and turn toward the front again.

"Madara," Hashirama says, "Sakura, seal this union between the two clans with a kiss recognized by the Land of Fire as the legally binding contract of marriage for Kami to see.

"As well as our God: Tsukuyomi, Goddess: Amateratsu and God: Susanoo," the Uchiha elder says. "The deities that watched over our clan since it's beginning."

"Praise be the Moon God, Sun Goddess and Storm God," the Uchiha murmur, bowing their heads once more.

"Seal the unity," Hashirama says softly, stepping back a bit with the Uchiha elder. Sakura looks back up at Madara, curiously. He's still looking away. He takes a moment to breath slowly and make his face impassive before turning back to Sakura. He releases her hands and takes a tiny step closer, his body becoming flush with her own before cupping her cheeks with his hands and leaning down. His lips tentatively touch her own, and Sakura jumps in surprise pulling back just enough that their lips are barely touching, having never done something like this before.

"Is this okay?" Madara asks, so softly Sakura barely heard him over her racing heartbeat in her ears. His warm breath washes over her face, fanning her hair a bit.

Sakura's mind is blank. "Um..." she hums. "Um... yes..." Her breathing is fast, so much faster than his. Somewhere in the back of her mind she can feel her fingers gripping his kimono sleeves tightly, as if trying to use it as some sort of anchor for her. Something to keep herself from floating away. Her head is feeling light from all her heavy breathing.

Madara closes the distance, pressing his lips more firmly against Sakura's, holding it for a few moments, before pulling back slightly. "Are you okay?" He asks softly.

No, she wasn't okay. Sakura's entire body was on fire. Her head felt like it was full of hot air and her stomach was holding thousands of newly hatched butterflies. Never before had she felt like this. What was wrong with her? What had Madara done to her?

"I..." Sakura whispers, hands gripping his sleeves tighter. She opens her eyes, not knowing when she even closed them. "I feel strange," she admits.

"Bad strange or good strange?" Madara asks.

Sakura shakes her head. "I... don't know. My stomach feels weird and my head is light. What did you do to me, Madara?"

She knew it. She knew he did something to her when immediately his entire face turned red and his eyes widen to the size of sausors. He clears his throat slightly and pulls away.

"I..." he says, trying to find the words before clamming up, jaw snapping shut. He looks around embarrassed before glaring at Hashirama, who was making a soft cooing noise, fingers pushing up his cheeks, face lit up.

"Aw-" he starts to coo again but pauses when Madara's look turns murderous. "Okay, sorry. Alright everyone, please join us for the festivities in celebration of the union."

Everyone lowers to a bow as Sakura and Madara, arm in arm, both blushing and avoiding eye contact walk back down the path to where the celebration will be held. Dozens of tables scattered around the open area, enough to hold everyone. One large table at the very head of the pack, nicely dressed up with fine plates and cups all laid out. Enough spaces for Sakura, Madara, Izuna, Hashirama and Tobirama.

Sakura and Madara sit in the center, Hashirama then Tobirama sat to Sakura's right and Izuna sat to Madara's left. The feast is laid out and everyone is mingling, eating and celebrating.

Sakura spots Koharu and her mom sitting at a table with the Senju, Koharu sitting next to Momo. Both girls are talking animatedly to one another. They look like they are having fun. Sakura wants to go over there and hang out with them but Lia will definitely pinch her face if she just up and left the table just to hang out with her friends.

Sakura nibbles on her food, looking around the tables, seeing everyone smiling and laughing. They were nudging each other and whispering to one another. Everyone looks really happy. Sakura smiles a little bit, everyone is so happy. This marriage really is a good thing. It's helping the villagers bond together. She can see some Senju and Uchiha leaning back toward tables of the opposite clansmen to talk to them and laugh.

Someone's hand wraps around her own. She follows the hand to her eldest brother to see Hashirama smiling lovingly down at her.

"Everyone looks so happy," Sakura says, looking back over the intermixed clansmen and Koharu and her mother. Madara, Izuna and Tobirama all stare out over the gathered clansmen. One table is filled entirely of elders from both clans, all talking to one another, planning out the future of their clans and this village, looking please and excited. Some people are swaying their heads back and forth a bit with the music.

"Yeah," Izuna says, eyes wide. "Everyone is. That's... weird..."

"Not so," Hashirama politely disagrees, squeezing Sakura's hand happily. "I think this is the way it was always meant to be. We shouldn't have to be fighting each other. I think it's a long time coming. I'm glad that everyone is happy." He sighs contently.

"Yes..." Madara says softly, looking around at his clansmen mingling with a soft look on his face. "This is what I wanted. I can live with this..." he says softly, more to himself than to them.

"You mean you're happy," Hashirama says, smiling knowingly at his childhood friend.

Madara grunts, rolling his ankles around, listening to them crack a bit before crossing his legs in front of him. "I..." he hesitates, embarrassed to admit the truth. "Maybe..."

Izuna rolls his eyes, reaching over and patting Madara's shoulder. "Don't worry, aniki, we know that we can't force you to be social. Worry not, we won't give up on you."

Madara sighs, glancing over at his little brother, annoyed.

"Whatever," he mutters. He scratches his throat, looking around the crowd. He lets out another sigh, bringing up his left foot and propping it up next to him, between him and Izuna, resting his right elbow on the table and laying his chin on his fist, staring at their people. The perfect pose for an arrogant prince. His eyes half lidded as he watched everyone.

Sakura looks over at Hashirama. "May I go dance?" Sakura asks.

Hashirama blinks in surprise, brown eyes flickering over to Madara, but the black haired man doesn't react, like he didn't even hear Sakura. He looks back down at Sakura. "Um, I don't mind. It's your celebration, do what you like."

Sakura nods, climbing to her feet and walking around the table. She heads toward Momo and Koharu's table, stopping only once to tug on Kikiyo's arm and wave for her to come along. Kikiyo swallows the food in her mouth and quickly follows after. Sakura stops at Momo and Koharu's table, the entire table falling silent. She waves at them to come with her.

"Oh boy," Momo says, taking a quick drink before climbing to her feet.

"What's happening?" Koharu asks, slowly raising to her feet, duo colored eyes wide.

Sakura waves for them to follow before walking over to the band, standing a few feet in front of them before holding her hands out to the three other girls. Kikiyo takes on of her hands and Koharu takes the other, nervously. Momo closes the group by holding both girls' free hands. Sakura beings to dance, smiling brightly. The other girls easily fall into step. Spinning each other around and dancing.

Once again the band had to speed up in order to keep up with their pace. Sakura didn't do a lot of spinning, since her kimono is a little too long to be dancing too quickly in. Sakura's not sure how long she was dancing with Kikiyo, Momo and Koharu, but she has to stop and catch her breath at some point and just watches as the three girls, laughing and giggling, spin around one another in beat with the music, their faces red from exertion, fancy kimono - Koharu is wearing a nice one of Sakura's kimonos that she gave the blond, thinking that everyone deserved a pretty kimono to wear, Sakura had plenty - spinning around behind them, pinned up hair blowing around in the breeze.

Sakura smiles softly, turning toward her newly-made husband, brother-in-law and two brothers. Madara was staring at her with impossibly black eyes, the pin holding his fringe is gone, long black hair covering part of his face.

Sakura tilts her head a bit, wondering if it was just her or if Madara really looked like he wanted to say something. After a moment of them just staring at each other, Sakura lifts up her fingers and lightly wiggles them at him. Suddenly, the intense, calm look on Madara's face vanishes, and he smiles, gently. He pushes himself to his feet and walks around the table toward her in slow, smooth strides filled with lethality and grace.

Sakura suddenly felt like a bunny rabbit trapped under the dangerous gaze of a wolf. A sleek black wolf with the most intense, mile deep black eyes staring through her. A shiver passes over Sakura as he gets closer. She's not sure what this feeling is - even if it's anything good - but she knows that her brothers would never put her into a dangerous situation without protection or at least some way to protect herself. Hence the kunai that Tobirama had given her.

Later, Sakura decides. She'll tell him about it later.

Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Sakura blushes and holds her hands out for Madara. This is the first time she's actually reached out for him. They've touched a few times, mostly today, but this is the first time that she's held her arms out wide for him to walk into. It's become such a natural thing when dealing with her brothers, especially Hashirama, that Madara just seem to fit easily into her arms. She wraps her arms around his neck and rests her right cheek on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

Madara's body easily wraps around her like a protective cocoon. Sakura felt herself relax almost immediately. Sakura will be the first to admit that she has very little self preservation instincts, but she relaxed so quickly in his arms that she almost fell asleep right there. Even though she's sweaty and a little gross, Madara pulls her tight against his body and begins swaying slowly, ignoring the upbeat music. It was like a world around them fell away, and it was just them.

The music slowly down, Kikiyo, Momo and Koharu's giggles disappear, and Sakura blocks out everything else. She focuses on the strong beat of Madara's heart in her ear. It was a little elevated, but it was slowing down as he was relaxing. Sakura sways slowly with Madara, leaning on him. Sakura wasn't sure she was in love with Madara, but she definitely could admit that since the very beginning, when she met him years ago, she knew that she liked him.

Madara might hate that she keeps saying it, but he really was a nice person. She could feel it. Even though they haven't been married long and were married out of obligation, she could tell he was genuine. There was no stiffness or worry. He was holding her close, ready and willing to start his life with her. A promise is a promise.

Marriage and family is two of the strongest promises to be made.

Sakura and Madara will both keep this promise.

 

Around midnight the celebration settles down. Today was a long day and Sakura was ready to go to bed. She wasn't really thinking when she started heading home after the party was wrapping up, she didn't make it very far before Madara caught her hand. She turned to him, watching the torch and lantern lights dancing on his face, in confusion.

"Yeah?" she asks, yawning.

"You're going the wrong way," Madara says softly, eyes downcast, as if he couldn't look at her. Sakura looks over her shoulder toward her home. Watching the Senju heading toward that side of the make-shift village. A weight lands in her stomach, realization hitting her.

"I..." she says, eyebrows pulling together. Hashirama and Tobirama both refuse to look at her. "Hashirama-ani... Tobirama-ani..." Hashirama peaks over at Sakura with big, sad puppy-dog eyes, apologizing without words. Tobirama was frowning, obviously unhappy. Sakura looks up at Madara, but he would look at her either. It was obvious. Sakura knew that she things would change. But for some reason, she thought that she would be able to stay with her brothers.

She thought that everything would be the same, she would just be married. She hadn't thought about how she would never be able to sleep under the same roof as her brothers' again. The people that she grew up with. The only boys in her life that she has ever loved were being pulled away from her. For months they have been preparing for this and Sakura didn't even know. She didn't even realize it.

Never again would Hashirama sneak into her room at night and lay by her side, talking to her about anything in the world until she fell asleep, even if he had spent the entire day working hard. Never again with Tobirama make them hot tea as they sit around the fire, talking about their thoughts or whatever had happened that day. Never again would she wake up in the middle of the night to her brothers coming home, and all three of them just stay up and see each other having being busy all day.

None of that will happen again. It was like Sakura was losing her brothers.

The realization left her paralyzed. She numbly followed two Uchiha women as they took her to the baths, had her cleaned up from the day's activities. She didn't feel them clean her body or wash her hair, she didn't hear them trying to talk to her, she just stared forward, worried about what would happen next. Sakura was a fool to think things would be the same. She was naïve.

She likes Madara. She does. Does she love him? No, not really. She's comfortable around him and today was a big step for their relationship. Is it possible for her to one day to fall in love with him? Yes, it is very possible.

The Uchiha women lather Sakura's body with nice smelling oils, pinning her hair up to keep it from falling into the oils. She doesn't register it. She just stares forward quietly. Never before had such a feeling overcome her quite like this. Sakura wanted to cry. She wanted to go home to her brothers. She wanted to curl up in Hashirama's arms and tell him and Tobirama that she never wanted to leave their side again. This was different, this was foreign. Sakura didn't like any of this. It's painful thinking about all of this.

In the back of her mind, she knew things were going to chance, but she wished that they wouldn't. Her family is just on the other side of the little village, yet Sakura feels so very alone.

Tears slide down Sakura's face. Her breathing remains level and she doesn't make any noise, but she cries. She feels a painful constriction in her chest. One of the Uchiha woman does a double take, seeing Sakura cry. She's young, probably in her early twenties, whereas the other woman is probably in her forties. She blinks a few times before opening her mouth, probably about to say something to make Sakura feel better, or to even ask if she was okay, but then she doesn't. She closes her jaws and seals her lips, bowing her head and continuing to clean Sakura.

They dress Sakura up in a thin, loose kimono before bowing and leaving her outside of her new home. They whisper farewells and goodnights before slipping away into the night. Sakura knew what she had to do. She was responsible for baring Madara's children. Give him strong, male heirs. That was her duty now. She didn't really think about all of this. She was so busy with the plans of the wedding, that something like this didn't even cross her mind.

At this moment, Sakura wanted nothing more than to run straight home to her brothers, and she probably would have, if the two guards stationed outside Madara's home weren't just staring at her.

"My lady," one of them finally says. Sakura's eyes flicker up toward his, her eyebrows pulled together tightly. "My lord is in there waiting for you..." he says slowly, probably seeing the apprehension written all over her face.

Sakura nods solemnly. "Okay..." she says, voice shaking.

She steps into the yard and over to the house, going in slowly. The first room was the kitchen and sitting room, a fire pit in the center with cabinets filled with supplies to Sakura's left. There was two doorways in front of her. One was closed, the other was propped open slightly. Sakura could see candle light flickering against the hardwood flooring.

Sakura squeezes her hands tightly together in front of her and walks slowly toward the light after slipping her shoes off at the door, feeling her entire body shaking tremendously. She didn't know if she was ready for this. She said she was during the ceremony, but she was wrong. She didn't want this. She really didn't want this. She wasn't ready.

Sakura steps into the room and looks around. It's plain with a single bed in the center of the room, two dressers, one on either side of the rooms against opposite walls. A door leading into the bathroom. A window on the right wall and two candles placed on either side of the bed, far enough way not to be wacked during the night. Madara was sitting on the on the left side of the bed, sitting there in just a pair of dark blue pants. Pale chest shining with a golden hue in the candle light. His dark eyes locked on her as soon as she came into the room.

Sakura stands by the door, slowly closing it behind herself, staring at Madara with wide, frightened eyes. Madara stares back at her long and hard, scanning every inch of her body before holding his hand out for her. Shaking like a leaf, Sakura knew this was now her duty and she had to obey, she slowly walks over to him, tears welling up in her eyes. Madara blows out the candlelight next to him bathing the room in moonlight.

Sakura hiccups softly, crawling into his arms. She's shaking so violently, she feared she'd vibrate out of his arms. He must have thought so too for he holds onto her tightly and lays back against the pillow, pulling her down on top of him. He practically forces her head to rest on his chest before he finds a adjusts into a relaxing position and stops moving.

The newly-made Uchiha Lady doesn't move right away. She just lays there, head on Madara's shoulder and hand on his toned stomach, feeling it rise and fall with his breathing. After a few moments of nothing happening, Sakura's body starts to relax.

Quietly, hesitantly, she calls out to him. "Madara...?"

He grunts. "Sleep," he says simply. After an entire minute of silence, Sakura not sure if that was code for something or not, Madara elaborates, "Sleep now, Sakura. I will never force you to do anything you don't want. Today has been a long day for both of us. Just sleep and have peaceful dreams." His voice was so soft that it could be carried away with the gentle breeze blowing in through the window.

That was all Sakura needed. Her entire body sags against his, exhausted from all of today's activities and from being so wound up. Sleep was definitely something she needed.

Sakura was right. She was really right. No matter what anyone else in the world said, Sakura knew at this moment that she was right.

Madara is kind.


	10. Man in the Woods

Hashirama has a look of absolute horror and self destruction on his face. It looks like he viewed the last shred of innocence be violently ripped away from this world as Sakura limps toward him. Hashirama looks faint and could barely muster the courage to glare hatefully at his friend walking behind Sakura, looking guilty as all hell. A sniffle from the pink haired girl pulls Hashirama's devastated brown eyes back down to his little sister.

"Imouto," Hashirama say, pained. He holds his hands out between them as if to keep her away. "I think you should be at home resting..." He flinches at his own words and catches an angry glare sent his way from both Tobirama and Madara.

"Shut up, Hashirama," Madara growls.

Sakura holds her left leg out toward him, sniffling. "Aniki..." she says softly. "It hurts, aniki..."

Hashirama blinks in confusion before stooping down to his hunches and turns her foot around spotting an angry red blotch on her big toe and another on her heel. Upon closer inspection, he sees the splinters.

"Oh," Hashirama lets out a loud sigh of relief. "Oh thank Kami. I thought-" he looks up at Sakura, who was staring down at him through long wet lashes. "Um, no. It doesn't matter what I thought. Alright, Sakura, sit down so I can get these out."

Sakura obeys, falling to her body, sniffling.

"I tried to help her," Madara says, arms crossing over his chest, "but she didn't want my help."

"She wouldn't want my help either," Tobirama says simply. "You and I don't have control over wood, nor can we sooth the pain with medical ninjutsu."

Hashirama grins playfully up at his little brother. "Don't be jealous, Tobirama. Being subpar isn't always bad."

Tobirama glares at him. "I am not subpar."

Hashirama laughs. "I'm kidding, Tobi. No need to be so sensitive." Then he turns his attention back to Sakura. "How did you get these splinters, Sakura?"

"Madara's house," Sakura says, wiping the last of the wetness from her eyes.

Hashirama looks up at a glaring Madara. "Have you ever heard of a sander, Madara?"

"Shut up," Madara snaps. "I'm not usually walking around without shoes on, I didn't notice that parts were unsmoothed. The two splinters in the house happened to be found by Sakura. I'm sorry."

Hashirama tries to keep his smile under control, which only serves to annoy the Uchiha patriarch even more, before he says, "I'll forgive you just this once, Madara, but I do expect that flooring to be smoother than a baby's skin before tonight."

Madara glares more. "Bite me," he snaps.

Hashirama pulls out one sliver and works on the other quietly for a moment. There was obviously something on his mind but he looked like he didn't know how to broach the subject or if he even should. But after getting the last sliver out, he seemed unable to keep whatever was on his mind unsaid for he looks up at Madara and says, softly, "When she was limping toward me... I..."

Tobirama glances over at Madara, also looking slightly perturbed. "Me too."

Madara jerks his chin away. "Then both of you are idiots. I don't know about you two, but I'm not fond of the idea of taking an unwilling partner. We will be married for the rest of our lives. Frivolous things like that can wait." His ear is red.

"Damn Madara, if I had known you were going to be a gentleman to my sister, I might have gotten a wink of sleep last night. Thanks for that," Hashirama says, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, Imouto, they're gone. You can walk again."

Madara rolls his eyes. "God dammit, I hate you, Hashirama. Don't make me hit you."

"With love?" Hashirama asks, jokingly.

"With a brick," Madara says drolly.

Hashirama flinches, as if he was already struck. "Ow," he says. He pushes himself to his feet and then pulls Sakura up with him. She hesitantly puts weight on her foot, but once she doesn't feel any pain, she relaxes. She grins broadly up at big brother.

"Alright," Tobirama says, "what is the plan for today?"

Madara immediately flips the switch from annoyed and embarrassed to all business. "We need to take a detailed look at the property line we have and begin writing up the plan for the daimyo and hope that he approves them."

Hashirama and Tobirama both nod. "Right," Tobirama says. "We should get to that. Will Izuna be joining us?"

Madara looks curious, probably not expecting that from Tobirama but is smart enough to hide his surprise. "I'm not sure," he says carefully. "You two can head to the meeting room, I'll go find him." His large black eyes land on Sakura. "And what will occupy your day, Sakura?"

Sakura shrugs her shoulders and opens her mouth an "I don't know" on her lips before she spots a familiar dark haired Uchiha walking over to them. "Ah!" She says, breaking into a run toward the girl. "Kikiyo!" She launches herself into the taller girl's arms. The Uchiha catches her easily, smiling happily.

"Good morning, my lady," she says. "You are awfully spry this morning."

Sakura smiles up at her as the two walk back over to the three men. Kikiyo bows as much as she can with Sakura's arms locked around her. "Good morning, my lords."

"Good morning," Hashirama greets, smiling. "Um... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Kikiyo Uchiha, my lord," Kikiyo says, blushing a bit. "And it's quite alright."

"Well," Tobirama says simply, "it looks like Sakura found her playmate for the day."

"She's yours for the day, then," Hashirama says playfully. Kikiyo doesn't appear to mind. She smiles down at Sakura and starts walking, Sakura still hanging off of the taller Uchiha. Sakura wasn't listening to her brothers and new husband joking, she was hungry and wanted to eat. Madara told her, straight up, that he didn't eat in the morning, he was never hungry and Sakura thought that was weird.

After a long and tiring night of sleeping, she couldn't believe he wasn't hungry. Sakura was always hungry. Her brothers always ate breakfast, yet her husband did not? Sakura wasn't so certain that her husband was human. It was just crazy to Sakura. Who doesn't eat breakfast? It was just crazy.

"Food?" Sakura says.

Kikiyo tilts her head to the side in confusion for a moment before making an "ah" face and saying, "No thank you. I don't eat breakfast-what? What is with that face, my lady?"

Sakura walks away from Kikiyo, wondering if all the Uchiha weren't human. Who doesn't eat breakfast? Where does their energy for the day come from? Now that she was an Uchiha? Would she start having unknown energy in the morning and no longer need to eat too?

 

Sakura and Kikiyo walk around the forest, being sure to stay close enough to their camp... er, village, so that if they need to get there, they can do so quickly. Sakura was fed and happy, skipping around in the forest, holding Kikiyo's hand, listening to the girl talk about her life. There was very little - at least in Sakura's opinion - about herself that was interesting, but it was different with Kikiyo.

Kikiyo was the oldest of three. She had two little sisters. She was in skirmishes with the Senju nearing the end of the war and never killed anyone - as far as she knew - but she was one of a few girls, especially her age, that had activated her sharingan. She is actually Madara's cousin. Her father was Madara's uncle. She wasn't close with Madara and Izuna, partly because she's a few years younger but also because Madara and Izuna were harshly trained from the moment they could fight to be killing machines and she didn't get to see them much.

Sakura liked listening to Kikiyo talk. Her voice was smooth and kind. She talked a lot about her sisters - she loved them so much, she practically glowed when she spoke of them - about how her oldest little sister, who's ten, is learning the firestyle jutsu and is getting really good at it. Her other sister is seven and is in love with making flower crowns. She doesn't think her youngest sister will have any talent in the ninja world, and she is completely okay with that. In fact, when she said it, she sounded very happy about that.

Sakura couldn't help but smile a bit at that. Kikiyo's youngest sister wouldn't be much a shinobi and would have less chance than Kikiyo did about seeing the horrors of the world of Shinobi. Sakura was happy that her brother's and Madara's dream is already starting to bare fruit. Sakura was happy for her brother and husband and even Kikiyo were already reaping the benefits of this alliance.

Sakura couldn't be happier about it.

They walk through the forest and explore, Sakura tells Kikiyo the names of the types of trees as they pass them. Sakura remembers years ago taking a walk through the forest with Hashirama, and listening to him do something similar. Unlike Sakura, Hashirama was able to riddle off facts about the trees. Hashirama was the type of person who read up about things that interested him, and those interests expanded a wide variety of things. Tress, seals, jutsu, foreign lands, things that scattered across the map.

While Sakura can admit to Hashirama being a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but in fact her brother was actually really smart and wise to many things about the world and a variety of subjects. He didn't seem thoughtful, or insightful and Sakura heard people referring to her brother as a dreamer with aspirations bigger than he can handle, but Sakura didn't believe that. Sakura looked at her eldest brother and saw endless possibilities. Her brother didn't see the world like everyone else did. He saw it like it was full of possibilities, and was change waiting to happen.

He saw the world through eyes Sakura wished she could see from. It's like darkness doesn't exist in his world. Not that Sakura's seen a lot of darkness, but that's because her brothers do a wonderful job trying to shield her from it. But no matter how hard they work, Sakura can see past the barrier they've tried so hard to erect around her.

While admirable, her brothers trying to keep the world's evil from her, she knows it's there. Sakura has come to accept the fact that she might have not jumped into the river in some accident. Sakura doesn't know what events led to her being in that river, but something in the pit of her stomach tells her it was something that would be painful to hear, and something she probably would have wished she'd never heard. Thinking about it, part of Sakura wants to live the rest of her life, never knowing what happened, but another part of her knows that something like that... it can't be buried forever.

It's almost like her past is poking at her from across a great distance, that is slowly, but surely, growing shallower and shallower.

"My lady, do you see that?" Kikiyo asks, breaking Sakura from her thoughts. Sakura glances over at her and Kikiyo points toward a black patch of land. As they move closer, Sakura sees its a hole in the ground leading into a cave. It wasn't super big and smelled bad - like an animal lived in there at some point - but there was enough light shining in through the hole to illuminate pretty much the entire cave. If it can really be called that. It was more like a burrow that went about seven feet in and was almost five feet tall.

It was neat and well patted together with hard clay to keep it's formation.

Sakura traces the little gorges in the walls and looks around the dark little cave with wide eyes. Kikiyo was knelt next to her, also looking around kind of amazed. Her eyes locked with Sakura and they shared a little smile with one another.

"Secret hideout," Sakura says, eyes wide. She lets out a little laugh when Kikiyo rolled her eyes.

"Not so far outside the camp, my lady," Kikiyo says, "but, it is a cute idea."

Sakura blinks a few times, reaching up to cup her chin. "Something for the kids?"

Kikiyo raises an eyebrow. "Wait, what? What do you mean by that? A hideout for the kids?" Her eyes widen. "Oh! Something fun to occupy the kids' time while the adults are building up the villages." She beams.

Sakura had been hearing about the children complaining around the village about not having anything to do and the parents were too busy trying to get the village onto it's feet and preparing for the wedding. She didn't give it a lot of thought, wondering if that was just something that could be handled with time as the village began to grow up into... well, a village.

"Sure," Sakura says, then smiles. It was actually a good idea.

"Come on," Kikiyo says, crouch-walking toward the opening. "Let's get back to the village before someone notices that we're gone, yes?" She peaks over her shoulder at Sakura, who nods.

They both crawl out of the hole in the ground and head back to the village, brushing off the dirt and dust on their kimonos as they do so.

 

Another night with Madara, the same as the first. She crawled into his arms, easier this time, and laid down on his chest. There wasn't any awkwardness or anything tonight. Sakura walked into the room to find Madara already in there, gaze turned toward the window, staring up at the moon with large pitch black eyes turned gray in the moonlight. He turned toward her and opened his arms for her to crawl into. She did, without fear. She was able to fall asleep immediately, this time.

It was halfway through the night that Sakura woke up, wanting to shift in her sleep but worried. She's slept in Hashirama's arms enough times to know that shinobi in war like her brothers and like Madara, woke at the smallest of noises, or even the slightest of shifting and Sakura could hear Madara's deep breathing above her and feel the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath her. He's so busy and has to get up again early in the morning, the last thing she wants is to take away from his sleep.

Sakura couldn't stop herself, she turned away from Madara, hearing his breathing stop and his muscles tense slightly before relaxing behind her. She could practically feel his eyes roaming the room, looking for threats before deeming it safe and his body relaxes completely and his breathing begins to return to deep, sleeping breaths.

Sakura looks down at Madara's right arm, trapped beneath her neck. She hopes she's not cutting off circulation to his hand by her head resting on his bicep rather than his shoulder like earlier. She hopes he nudges her off soon so she doesn't wake him. Sakura closes her eyes and falls back asleep.

When Sakura opens her eyes again, she's not sure how much time has passed, but it's still dark out and Madara and rolled toward her, nose buried into the top of the back of her head, other arm around her waist. His other arm is still trapped beneath her. She raises her hand slowly, wanting to not wake him, as she touches the trapped hand, expecting it to be cold from cut off circulation, but it's warm. Enough blood must be getting to his hand, thankfully.

Madara's breathing had paused again and Sakura felt bad again. She wraps her small hand around his, hoping that it'll help lull him back sleep to see that he wasn't in danger and it was just her moving around. Madara lets out a soft, relaxed sigh, body shifting slightly before falling still.

Sakura had slept beside Hashirama - and even Tobirama on some occasions - with her big brother using his body to shield her from the cold, much like Madara is doing with the cool wind blowing in from the window behind him but this was different. With Hashirama, there was always this platonic, safe protection that he had about him. He would go out of his way to protect her from the cold because that was the type of person he was. He would probably even do the same to Tobirama with her other brother hadn't already pointed out that Hashirama was in the way of his sensing abilities. That's probably the only exception.

But it was different with Madara. While she knows Hashirama, and Tobirama, would protect her from anything, when she used to lay by her brother it was simply protecting from the cold, but with Madara, is was like that, and more. The only ways into this room, the window and door, are positioned in such a way that if someone came in, they would have to physically go around Madara - if not through him - to get her.

In a way, Madara was like her first and last line of defense.

These past two nights, Madara has kept his arms locked around her, like a shield. Last night she was too tired to move while she slept, tonight, he moved to follow her and stay close. So close, if she needed him, he would be there.

Sakura brings her other hand up and wraps it around his. Cocooning his hand between both of hers. He made her feel safe. She wanted him to feel the same.

 

"Going on an adventure today too?" Hashirama asks, amused. His hands land onto his hips and he grins playfully down at Sakura.

She nods, smiling up at him, reaching out to take Kikiyo's hand. Kikiyo bows respectfully to Hashirama before saying to Madara, "I will look after her, my lord. Please relax with her in my care."

"Very well," Madara says, face stoic. "But, be sure the two of you stay close to the village. It's not safe far out in the forests."

"Hai!" Sakura says, saluting to her husband and big brother before spinning around and practically yanking Kikiyo away from the two in her rush to continue exploring. Kikiyo laughs and easily keeps up with Sakura. They slow as they enter the forest.

"I told my sisters about our little hideout. Once we've made sure the lands are safe, I promised to show it to them. They're excited." Kikiyo beams down at Sakura. She does an exciting little bobble, where her feet don't leave the ground but the rest of her body shakes. Sakura laughs at it, amazed that her friend is so excited to just show her little sisters something cool.

They go back to the small cave and look around it again. Sakura listens to Kikiyo talking about breakfast with her sisters this morning. It was interesting for Sakura to listen to, being the youngest of three, she didn't ever have to really be placating to a somewhat irrational little sibling. Sakura trusted her older brothers and usually went along with anything they wanted. Or, she would say something to the contrary and if it was reasonable enough they would submit to her whim. Wow, it was interesting being an older sibling.

Sakura and Kikiyo crawl out of the hole again and continue to wonder. As promised, they stick close to the village. At some point, Sakura and Kikiyo, hand in hand, were skipping through the forest, laughing and having fun, feeling like teenagers, when Sakura's leg caught a hole in the ground leading into a slope on her right. Sakura's balance is immediately compromised and she falls, pulling Kikiyo down with her.

Both girls go rolling down the slope that turns into a hill. At some point, Kikiyo managed to get her bearings and slid the rest of the way down on her feet whereas Sakura landed at the bottom on her side, dizzy and scraped up but otherwise unharmed.

"My lady!" Kikiyo calls out, jumping to Sakura's side and dropping to her knees, helping Sakura sit up.

"Whoa," Sakura says, shaking the dizziness from her head before grinning up at a panicked Kikiyo. "Can we go again?"

Kikiyo's shoulders sag in relief. She lets out a thin laugh and shakes her head. "No, my lady, sorry. No can do with that one. Are you alright?" She stands up and helps Sakura up too. They both dust themselves off and then smile at one another.

"I'm okay," Sakura says. Then, something catches her attention. It wasn't a tangible thing. It was like an itch in the back of her mind. Something that pulled at her attention away from Kikiyo, hair mussed up and with a small stick and a few leaves tangled in it during her tumble, toward the forest. They weren't too far away from the village, Sakura thinks. Just down a steep slope.

There was a break in the tress where Sakura's attention is drawn. Laying in the center is a human body. Sakura's eyes widen and she makes her way over to it - him, she realizes as she draws near - with Kikiyo close by, staring wearily down at the body in front of them.

"My lady," Kikiyo says slowly, "we shouldn't be doing this. We have to get out of here. Tell someone about him and let them handle it. Please, my lady, your life is too important to be risked on curiosity..." She tries to pull Sakura away, but Sakura doesn't listen. If someone is hurt, she has to try and help them if she can.

They stop for a brief moment in front of the man, taking in his ratty, ripped clothes. He's face down but Sakura can see that his arms are covered in dirt and it's caked beneath his fingernails. There was no visible wounds on his person that she could see and other than his stink, she couldn't smell blood or infection. Anything to indicate why he's just laying face down in the grass not moving. Sakura can't even tell if he's breathing.

She reaches closer, to touch his shoulder with her left hand, her right is being tugged back by Kikiyo. If the girl were to suddenly let go of Sakura's hand, she'd fall down onto the man but with the vice grip Kikiyo has on her, Sakura doubts that will happen.

"My lady," Kikiyo says pleadingly.

Right before Sakura's fingers touch his dirty shirt, a horrible, sickening feeling crawls through Sakura's body. Her entire person freezes. It was like poison was rolling down Sakura's back, threatening to crawl into her body through her skin. The man didn't move, didn't say a word or anything to indicate that he was any sort of threat, but at that moment, Sakura knew that he was dangerous. There was something about him that encouraged the end of life. It wasn't like a shinobi that killed people. It was like this man was walking, talking death. Like he was a plague threatening to roll over her village, killing all of her friends and family.

Sakura's shaking, alerting Kikiyo immediately of the danger. No longer trying to be polite, Kikiyo yanks Sakura back behind her and they take slow, cautious retreating steps. The mam didn't move, not when they approached and not when they backed away, which only served to scare Sakura more. Something about him wasn't right at all.

"He is death," Sakura whispers, horrified.

"He's dead?" Kikiyo asks, not daring to take her eyes off the unmoving man.

"No," Sakura wheezes, eyes wide. "He is death. He is where life goes to die. He is the end."

Kikiyo looks over at Sakura, partially thinking she's crazy and partially alarmed. "Wh-What does that mean?"

"Run," Sakura gasps, her voice and body shaking, "Run!" She yells, turning and running, pulling Kikiyo along for a split second before the other girl gets the point and races after, making sure to keep a step behind Sakura in case someone was chasing them. No one followed, but panic began to set in and Sakura ran as fast as she could, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between herself and that man as she can.

Sakura trips a time or two, but barely notices in her panic. All she can think of is getting away. She glances over her shoulder to see that Kikiyo was doing the same, making sure no one was following still. No one was. When Sakura turns forward, she runs into a body, so hard she bounces back, into Kikiyo and both of them fall to the floor, disoriented.

"Lady Sakura?" Rei asks, kneeling down to help Kikiyo and Sakura up but before he can be much help, Sakura latches onto him.

"Run!" She gasps, eyes wide and crazed. "Run away!"

"What?" Rei asks, eyes widening in alarm before they narrow and scan the area around them. Two more Senju cousins are there, three Uchiha and Tobirama, who was obviously leading them, all get onto high alert.

Tobirama walks over to Sakura and manages to pry her hands off Rei's arms and forces her to look at him. "What is going on, Sakura?" Tobirama asks in his no-nonsense voice. If this was some sort of joke, Sakura would be in so much trouble.

But Sakura wasn't joking and was desperate to get out of there, to get back to the safety of their homes, lock the doors and never come out again. Or at least, stay there until this entire thing blows over. Until that man is gone. Out of their lives as quickly as he came into it.

"Death..." Sakura rasps. "He will kill everything..." Her eyes widen even more, the color draining from her face.

Tobirama's eyes narrow dangerously. "Who?" He pulls Sakura closer to him, ready to throw her out of the way if something were to come charging out at them to keep her safe. Sakura's entire body is shaking and there is a look of absolute horror in her eyes and across her face. Her nails dig into Tobirama's arms as she stares up into his eyes.

"Death," she whispers, as if speaking too loud will bring him there to them. "He is death and he is coming."

"There is someone in the woods," Kikiyo says, finally climbing to her feet.

"What?" Tobirama says, glancing up at her. He pushes her into Rei's arms and starts walking in the direction. "How far?"

As Kikiyo answers, Sakura launches out of Rei's arms to try and get to Tobirama but Rei catches her and holds her back, arm looped around her waist.

"No!" Sakura yells, pulling Tobirama's attention to her, his eyes slightly wide. Sakura doesn't shout. She doesn't yell. She's usually very soft spoken. The loudest she gets is when she's laughing or whining, but she's never been this loud.

"Sakura..." Tobirama says, shocked. "Sakura, I understand you are scared but you have to go back to the village. I will go and see who that is. Rei take Sakura home I will return in a-"

"No!" Sakura yells again, attempting to get closer to him. To grabbing onto him and pulling him with her back to the village. "No! Don't go, Tobirama! No, come back with me! Come back with me!"

Tobirama shakes his head. "No, Sakura. This is too close to the village. We have to go and make sure that this threat is removed."

He turns to leave but Sakura calls out to him. "No, Tobirama! No! No! No! Come back!"

He ignores her. He ignores her. His shoulders are pulled together tightly, as if trying not to hear her screaming, louder and louder. Tears spill out of her eyes and runs down to her cheeks. Tobirama is ignoring her. He's never so blatantly ignored her before. Neither of her brothers had. This was probably the most important thing that she's ever dealt with and he was just ignoring her and walking away. The two Senju and three Uchiha follow after him slowly, wearily.

Sakura was having such a violent reaction to this. This was completely out of character for her. She wasn't like this. Not ever. But this was scaring her unbelievably, so and it was making the rest of them uncomfortable. Yet Tobirama kept going.

Sakura could see it in her mind's eye. She could see her big brother dead. Sucked in by the poison and left to die.

"No!" Sakura screams, reaching out to her brother, struggling to pull away from Rei but his grip was like iron around her waist. "No! Tobirama! No! No! Tobi! Tobi! Tobi!" Sakura's screams reverberate off the mountains, scaring away the birds and local wildlife.

Tobirama was walking away, shoulders rolled back tightly, eyes straight forward and jaw clenched. He could hear his little sister screaming and struggling with Rei's grip on her. She's never been like this. Whatever she saw - whatever she felt - had really shaken her up. So much so that she would act so out of character. But that wasn't what was important, not really. If anything it just reinforced his need to see what is going on and protect his home and family. His life, while important to him, wasn't the thing that mattered the most to him. His beloved little sister and incorrigible, but equally as beloved, older brother were.

He would do anything to protect them. Even go toe-to-toe with the god of death, Sakura so feared.

He has to ignore her. For her own good. To protect her and the rest of the two clans. With the two Senju and three Uchiha at his side, he walks into the unknown, ready to protect his family, his village, and his life.

"No!" Sakura screams, voice going hoarse. "Tobirama!"


	11. It's Gone

Sakura was dragged, kicking and screaming like mad, back to the village. She fought against her cousin weakly as he carried her over his shoulder, her green eyes frantically searching the forest for her brother to emerge. Him, or something else. Sakura mostly dreaded the latter of the two. Tobirama... Tobirama was going to die, and it was all her fault. She was the one that brought death there to them. She was the reason that they were all going to die. Swallowed up by the dark, endless death that awaited them.

So close. So close now, her entire family would feel it. Feel death's chilling finger slide down their spines. This was it. This was going to be the end. And the first casualty would be Sakura's beloved older brother, Tobirama.

It broke her heart. And crushed her spirit.

Her throat is dry and raw from her screaming earlier. Now it's just raspy and weak. She's tired and hot, staring at the forest as they enter the village, hoping to see her brother. Each step taken further from Tobirama and any chance of possibly helping him should he end up needing it. And Sakura suspects that he will. Why was Rei carrying her away from Tobirama? He needed her. Or at least, more help than what he had.

She didn't get it. She couldn't understand. Why? Why wouldn't Tobirama listen to her? She knew what she was talking about. She knew that death was approaching like an army of shadows threatening to overrun their village like a rogue wave. There was nothing they could do to stop it. Not soon. If it's not destroyed now, it'll become too powerful and swallow all life.

But Tobirama couldn't fight it alone. Why was he trying? Why wouldn't he listen to her? The irrational part of her mind wanted to hide away from this man forever. Just sit back and ignore him and maybe he'll go away. But she knew that wasn't the truth. She knew he could only be stopped now while he was only partially here, but she was scared - terrified - of him. She just wanted to run away.

She couldn't cry anymore. Her throat felt raw and her eyes are puffy. She brings the back of her hand up to wipe snot from beneath her nose, eyes scanning the forest again, praying that Tobirama would emerge from his. Chastise her for getting all worked up over nothing. Tell her that she shouldn't be wasting their precious time jumping at shadows. She just wanted everything to go back to normal. She wanted all of this to be a horrible dream forgotten when the morning comes.

But Tobirama didn't emerge from the forest behind them saying anything like that. They got back to the village and Tobirama, along with the Senju and Uchiha cousins, had yet to return.

Sakura was mortified.

Her hands start shaking again, fresh new tears well up in her eyes. Why? Why wasn't Tobirama coming out of the forest? Why wasn't he showing her some sort of sigh that he was okay? He had to of know that she was worried sick? Why wasn't he doing anything? Why wasn't he rushing back to her right now? Had something happened to him? Would she somehow know if something happened to him?

Sakura's hands twist up into her hair and screams, louder than ever before, "Tobirama!"

Rei jumps at the sudden noise, obviously having not expected it. "M-My lady..."

"Sakura-chan?" Hashirama's voice finally pulls her eyes away from the forest to look over at Hashirama. His hands were folded neatly in front of him but his eyes were wide as he approached. Madara and Izuna at his sides. Madara's eyes are narrowing dangerously. He must not like seeing Sakura being man-handled by one of her clansmen.

Rei finally puts Sakura down and she runs to Hashirama, grabbing hold of his arms tightly, looking up into Hashirama's surprised brown eyes with wild green ones. It was unnerving to see her like this. Sakura is a being that is anything but rational, but this is something else entirely.

"Tobirama," Sakura says, eyes wide. "Tobirama is going to die!"

The worried look on Hashirama's face melts completely off. His face falls stoic and drains of color. He raises his eyes toward the forest beyond, reaching out with his senses for something - probably Tobirama. But his sensing abilities, while keener than most, isn't nearly as powerful as Tobirama's. He must be far enough away that Hashirama couldn't sense him.

"What are you talking about?" Izuna asks, looking down at Sakura.

"He is death," Sakura whispers horrified. "Tobirama went to him! He will die! He's going to kill Tobirama!" Hashirama takes Sakura's arms and pulls her over to Madara, pushing her to him. Sakura's eyes widen in horror, realizing what he's going to do. "No! No!"

Hashirama grabs hold of her face, looking deep into her eyes. "Stay here, alright? I'm going to make sure that Tobirama is okay," Hashirama says, his voice strained. "I'll be right back with him."

"No!" Sakura yells, latching onto her brother. "No! Don't go!"

"It'll just be a few minutes," Hashirama says, stepping back.

"Maybe I should-" Madara stars but Hashirama quickly shakes his head.

"If something is going on, I need you to stay here," Hashirama says, eyes wide, but dark.

Madara's eyes narrow. "What are you saying, Hashirama? I can help you."

"It's not about that, Madara," Hashirama says curtly, looking like he's ready to run from the village the moment this conversation is over. "It's not about whether you can help us or not. I need you and Izuna to stay here. If something is attacking us, you have to protect the village, do you understand?" He looks directly into Madara's black eyes with a gaze so intense it even made the Uchiha clan leader back down. "Please, brother." He needs to go now, to be with Tobirama.

Madara relents. "Go. We will remain."

Sakura lunged after Hashirama, to try and stop him. In her mind, she knew that it would be safer if Hashirama and Tobirama were together, but she couldn't bring herself to just let her brother go into danger. Why wouldn't either of them listen to her? Why was today the day they decided not to listen? Why was today the day when they decided not to bend to her wishes? They have done so for so many other things, why not this? Why not now when it is most important? Why couldn't they just listen?

Fear the world like she does?

"No! Hashirama! No! No! No!" Sakura screams, trying to go after him but Madara holds her in place. After a split second of pause, Rei goes after Hashirama, leaning him into the forest at break-neck speed. Sakura lost all feeling in her legs. If it wasn't for Madara's arms around her, Sakura surely would have fallen into the dirt. She could believe that this was happening again.

"Sakura," Madara whispers into her ear, "what happened?"

Sakura didn't respond right away. Her eyes are locked onto the forest, mentally praying with all her might that her brothers would emerge from the forest, safe and sound.

Madara pulls Sakura's back tightly against his chest. "What happened, Sakura? What is going on with Tobirama?"

"I saw him," Sakura rasps.

"Who?" Izuna asks, stepping closer to ear the quiet pink haired Uchiha matriarch. "Who did you see?"

"I saw death. There, in the forest." Sakura lifts her hand and points toward the forest. It's getting closer to evening and the sky is on the far side of the village, getting ready to set for the day. "I saw death."

"Someone was dead out there?" Madara asks.

"No," Sakura whispers. "I saw death. I saw the place where life goes to die. He is like a bottomless pit. All he does is feed on life. He is unable to quench his hunger and will continue to hunt for life forever. And he has come here." Sakura brings her shaking hands to her face and begins to weep again. "I don't want them to die, Madara. Not my brothers!" She turns in his arms and wraps her little arms around his waist making sure that the forest is still in her view. If anyone comes out of there, she'll know.

Sakura's not sure how long she stood there, in Madara's arms, watching the forest with watery, puffy green eyes, before the trees started moving. Izuna pulls out a kunai, just in case this was the death that Sakura spoke of. Madara even pulls Sakura closer, ready to throw her out of the way should it really be a threat. Just like Tobirama was going to earlier.

"Tobi?" Sakura whispers. "Hashirama-ani?""

A stick snaps and the figure appears, stepping out of the forest. It's Kikiyo. She spots the two Uchiha brothers and the new pink haired Uchiha and quickly makes her way over to them. She looks over at Sakura, probably to ask if she was okay, but the look of horror on her face stops anything Kikiyo was going to ask. Instead, she turned her own pair of haunted eyes toward Madara.

"My lord," she says softly, as if speaking too loud would attract the attention of a predator to her location, "Lord Hashirama has asked that I come back and retrieve you, Lady Sakura and Lord Izuna. He wants you to see where... it lay." She shivers.

Madara and Izuna both look at each other for a split second, sharing a single assured nod, before waving for her to lead the way. Madara easily holds Sakura up and helps her into the forest. Izuna manages to get Kikiyo to tell them about what she saw, and she told them about how Sakura and her fell down a small hill and came across a dirty looking man laying face down in the forest. She told them about how Sakura reached out to touch him, yanked her hand back and how the two of them ran away.

She told them about how Sakura and she ran into Tobirama and the team with him on patrol, how Sakura freaked out and how she lead Tobirama and the remainder of the team back to where they had found the 'man'.

It's at this point that Kikiyo's story stops.

"And what happened when you got there?" Madara asks. Kikiyo looks over at Madara with wide black eyes, looking fearful.

"I..." she hesitates. "I don't know how to really explain what I saw. I think that's why Lord Hashirama asked you to go, my lord. So that you can see for yourself." She looks at him pleadingly, her eyes begging him not to make her try and explain. Madara and Izuna look at each other, frowning deeply.

"Is Tobi and Hashirama-ani alright?" Sakura asks, softly, calming down a bit now that it sounds like her brothers are okay.

Kikiyo nods. "Yes, ma'am. They are okay."

Sakura's shoulders droop a bit in exhaustion. Today has been a long day. Too long. Sakura pulls away from Madara a bit, so that he's not practically carrying her through the forest anymore. But she does keep her fingers intertwined with his just in case. Her other hand is wrapped around the crook of his arm, anything to keep herself feeling safe.

As they get closer to where It was, Sakura's grip on Madara's arm and hand grew tighter. In the back of her mind, Sakura had to wonder if she was hurting Madara. She wasn't very strong, but the last thing she would want would be to hurt the man who is going through so much for her. He doesn't half to do half the things he does for her. He doesn't have to be so protective. He doesn't have to be so lenient. Or so placating. But he is. Sakura appreciates it.

Sakura can see the Uchiha and Senju cousins standing around in a circle, parting only so that Izuna, Sakura and Madara could see what was happening in the center. Sakura's hands hurt from gripping him so tightly. Even though Kikiyo, who stop just outside the circle not seeming interested in seeing what was going on in the center, said that Hashirama and Tobirama were fine, she's still worried.

As soon as the little opening in the tress comes into view, all three of them. Hashirama and Tobirama, thankfully completely unharmed, stand on the opposite side, staring back at the trio. Between them, where the man lay not an hour before, was a patch of black dirt. Like the grass is so dead, it's dirt now. And about three feet in all directions of the body shaped dirt-like spot on the ground, everything was dead. The grass, the bushes, the trees. Everything was discolored, wilted, dead.

Sakura takes a step away from Madara and her fellow clansmen, into the circle of dead foliage and forestry. She can hear the dried up, dead leaves crinkle beneath her feet and her kimono bottom whisper against the remains. She stops just in front of the human shaped dirt pile. She stares at it, feeling the cold chill of death is like a finger running down her spine.

She wraps her arms around herself, staring down at the ground. She can feel everyone's eyes on her. Sakura was unique. She got accurate feelings about things that she just couldn't explain. Her intuition was spot on for the most part. Especially for those in the Senju clan, who knew what she was like. So their horror was genuine when she looked up at Hashirama and Tobirama with wide green eyes and whispered, "Where did he go?"

 

Security tightened over the next few months, but the mysterious man was no where to be found and Sakura was tight lipped about exactly who he was. She had feelings, inklings, but nothing concrete to go off of. The last thing she wanted was to tell them something misleading and be the cause of someone she loves getting hurt.

Sakura went through a bout of time where she wouldn't leave Tobirama's side. She was worried for Hashirama - without a doubt - but he went running to his possible death because Tobirama was there. Sakura just couldn't get why Tobirama would go out of his way to just go. Sure, he was going to protect them, but he should have waited and gone with more help, not just ran the risk and went despite Sakura's protests. It just didn't settle well with her.

So, instead of lazing around all day, every day, like Sakura usually does, she followed Tobirama around. She went to the meetings with him. Went on the hunts with him - and scared the prey away, oops - and even watched him as he trained. She even agreed to train with him. Working on building her meager chakra supplies and her control on top of that. Anything to just make sure that he wouldn't somehow run away and go to his death. Yes, Sakura was being a little over-dramatic about her assumptions, but she was worried.

Tobirama is a master at hiding his emotions. His face has always been very calm and stoic that it's hard to really get a reading on him. When Sakura first came to her family, she did have a hard time trying to understand Tobirama, even as a child he was stoic faced or easily irritated, and it was hard for Sakura to try and get close to this stranger who took her in.

Hashirama was the one that made her realize that Tobirama was actually trying to reach out to her, even though it didn't feel like it.

Sakura had taken to Hashirama right away. Even though it had only been a few months, she really liked Hashirama. It was hard not to like him. He was so kind, so smiley, so full of life, it was so infectious. He wanted to include her in everything that he did. He kept trying to get her to talk or figure out what she liked. Sakura became so attached to Hashirama that she began to just follow him everywhere he went. He never seemed to mind, and even seemed to like the idea of having his new little sibling following him.

Hashirama had sent Sakura home one day, there was nothing special, or particular about it, but he was going to train and wanted to in private. Hashirama had just recently unlocked his ability to use wood style and wanted to learn real control before he started showing it off to his parents and fellow clansmen. Sakura wanted to listen to him, but she also didn't want to be around so many strangers right now. She really liked Hashirama and wanted to be with him so she followed him despite what Hashirama had asked of her.

Tobirama was Hashirama's training partner, sort of - he was mostly there to observe and help Hashirama figure out control - and was standing back watching Hashirama struggle to summon up roots from a nearby tree. Tobirama was so focused on Hashirama that he must not have felt her sneaking up on them because the only way she was found out was when Hashirama lost control of one of the roots and it cracked like a whip against the tree Sakura was leaning again, creating a gorge in the wood just inches from her face. Sakura had let out a scream and fell to the grass.

Tobirama and Hashirama had gone running to her. Hashirama did something somewhat strange that day. He sobbed. He fell to his knees by Sakura's side, cradling her in his arms and cried like a baby, rocking her back and forth. Sakura wasn't hurt, just frightened, but Hashirama couldn't stop crying. His hands were flying across her body trying to find some wounds before he was finally realizing she was fine. Instead of making him feel better, it just made him cry harder. He held onto her tighter, asking her if she was okay, begging her to be okay.

Tobirama was the opposite. He was pissed. His hands curled up in fists and once Hashirama managed to calm down enough to stop crying, he let Sakura have it. He was so mad at her. He told her that she had to listen to them. Hashirama would be their clan leader and she had to start listening to them or she wouldn't have a place there, with them. No one would want to keep her there if they were just going to lose her. They lost enough people as it was. They didn't need to grow attached to someone just to lose them.

Sakura didn't understand at the time. She was both too young, and without any memory, to inexperienced with social interactions to be able to understand what he really meant. Sakura thought that he hated her. That he didn't want to get close to her. That despite his earlier intrigue with her, he ultimately came to disliking her and wanting her out of his life and away from his family.

That wasn't the case, though.

After that, Sakura stuck closer to Hashirama and avoided eye contact with Tobirama. After Tobirama had finished yelling at her, he growled and stomped away, claiming to wanting to be alone. Hashirama was too frazzled to continue training and knew Tobirama well enough to know that it was best to leave him alone while he was fuming. So Hashirama and Sakura went home for the day. About an hour later, Tobirama was back in the camp too.

Sakura started avoiding Tobirama, scared of him, and he obviously noticed. After that, he would have this unhappy frown on his face, and began to avoid Sakura too. Not like running away form her, or hiding behind Hashirama like she did, but he would turn his head away and frown deeply. He would cross his arms, or close his eyes, but he stopped talking to her unless he had to. Which wasn't often, since Hashirama was always there and knew what was going. (Food was ready, mother was looking for them, etc.)

There was a visible wall forming between the two of them and it was obviously upsetting Hashirama. He kept trying to get them to talk to each other or interact with each other but it turns out that Sakura and Tobirama could both be very stubborn. They would just stare at each other for a few moments before Sakura would duck behind Hashirama and Tobirama would turn his head away.

Hashirama deflated. No matter how many times he tried to get them to get along, they just wouldn't finally, after almost a week of this, Hashirama sat Sakura down and talked to her. He told her that Tobirama didn't say what he did to hurt her feelings. He was upset and scared for her. He was shocked that she was able to sneak up on him and worried for her safety. He said suck scary and hurtful things to hide his fear. He didn't want to come to love her if she was going to act mindlessly and get herself killed. Tobirama had already lost his baby brother. He was scared to death of loving and then losing them.

With that being explained to her, thoroughly. Sakura understood. She doesn't think much and just acts on impulse. It scares Tobirama, who is such a thorough, logical thinker. Hashirama is much the same way, rarely does he really sit down and think things through to their multitudes of conclusions, taking in each and every variable to learn how to best bring about the most preferable outcome.

Tobirama is the one that does that. Sakura and Hashirama do not.

Now Sakura understood. His words were hurtful, but in some ways, they were suppose to be. Tobirama doesn't want to get hurt, so he pushes people away, while at the same time, he's easily lonely.

"He's wishy-washy, but he's loyal, and he loves you. Already, I know, what a sap!" Hashirama had laughed. "But tell him you love him. If his face doesn't change, then I'm wrong. If it does, he loves you too. Definitely." Hashirama winked.

So Sakura did. She walked right up to Tobirama, looking him right in the eye and told him that she loved him. At first he just stared at her like she was insane, and then his entire face turned bright red and he looks away, hands flying up to his face to cover it. It was at that moment, that while she had said it moments ago and didn't mean it, she knew she loved Tobirama Senju.

And Tobirama Senju loved an innocent, pink haired amnesiac.

 

As the village progressed and Sakura finally gave Tobirama his freedom back, she turned her attention back toward her relationship with Madara. Every night they would sleep together. Occasionally have dinner together and always have breakfast together. Madara is usually working with her brothers or helping build up the village physically. She would rather him do that than take the time to be with her. She knows that this is his dream, and her brothers' too, and she would never want to stand in the way of that.

No, she could wait.

Sakura was selfish. She grew up with a loving mother and two doting older brothers that gave her whatever she wanted and asked for nothing in return. They took her in and loved her when they didn't have to, when they got nothing from it. They've given her whatever she's wanted, whenever. The least she can do is step aside and let them focus on their dream. In some way, that is a very shallow beginning to making up for all of the kindness they've given her all of these years. It may not be a lot of ground covered, but it's a good start. At least to Sakura.

Sakura didn't mind that Madara would come home late at night because he was in meetings late into the night with her brothers or settling disputes within the clan because he is the leader and that is his job. Sakura knew what it meant to be a clan leader, second hand knowledge from watching her brother run the Senju clan and deal with its affairs.

So Sakura could understand. She would wait up for him to come home, taking to reading the books that Madara has managed to collect over the years despite being in wartime. It's a large collection with varying subjects. It seems like Madara is quite the intellectual. Some of the books covered subjects that Sakura couldn't even begin to wrap her mind around, but kudos for Madara for being smart enough to understand.

At some point, during Sakura's days of searching through the collection Sakura found a book, partially hidden against the far end of the shelf, behind part of the lip of wood. Sakura managed to wiggle the small book out. It was old but well cared for. Sakura ran her fingers across the thin book, the old leather is smooth beneath her fingers.

Sakura turns back toward the room that she shares with Madara and walks back in, nudging the door closed behind her, leaving it open a bit. She plops down on the middle of the bed and runs her fingers down the spine of the book. This one is different than the others. It's not as... professionally done, if Sakura had to put it bluntly. It was well cared for, but some of the edges were poorly cut. Sakura tilts her head to the side. Had someone made this? Was that why Madara was keeping it sorta hidden? Should she not have it?

Madara didn't say not to touch anything when she moved in. Basically he said what was his was hers and to try and feel at home. Sakura runs her fingers across the leather one more time before opening up to the cover page. She was surprised to see pretty, articulate writing on the fist page.

"To my sons," it reads, "Madara, Izuna, Ikkun and Hatchin. Never forget that a hero comes in all shapes, forms and genders. Be respectful and kind to any and all people as you can, especially each other. Love, Oka-sama."

"Oka-sama?" Sakura says aloud.

"Yes, that was given to me by my mother." Sakura's head snaps up to see Madara standing in the doorway to their room. He takes a moment to step inside and close the door completely behind himself.

"I'm sorry," Sakura says, closing the book. "I didn't mean to take something private."

Madara shakes his head, he turns his back on Sakura and pulling his shirt off. Sakura peaks up at his pale, muscled back. Even in the dim light she can see the intricate lattice work of scars across his back. Sakura stands up and walks over to him, reaching out and touching the otherwise unblemished flesh on his back, feeling the muscles ripple beneath his skin.

Madara glances over at her from over his shoulder. Sakura tilts her head slightly.

"Are you mad at me?" Sakura asks.

Madra shakes his head. "No. I didn't tell you to keep away from it. I wasn't exactly hiding it, but please be careful with it. I don't have much left from my mother." He looks at her with half lidded eyes.

"Did she write it?" Sakura asks.

Madara shakes his head. "No, it was a story that was passed down on my mother's side. She was the only one of them with the means and ability to write it down for us, in case something happened to her before we were old enough to remember it. It was during wartime and mother never was able to write much, but she liked this story and wanted to make sure we kept it in the family." A slight pause, then, "My father didn't like the story, though."

"Why?" Sakura asks, pulling her hand back.

"The hero of the story is a woman," Madara says simply.

"What is it about?" Sakura asks, looking down at the book in her hand.

"It's a story about a great evil the scowered the lands for hundreds of years until it came acrossed a powerful priestess full of love for the world. She was able to purify the darkness and destroy the evil at the cost of her own life," Madara explains, shrugging his shoulders. "I always enjoyed the story but father didn't like the idea of a woman being able to do what a man could not. He's old fashioned like that."

Sakura looks down at the book, tilting her head to the side more. "Can I read it sometime?"

Madara nods. "Sure. Like I said, just be careful with it."

"No, I mean, to you?" Sakura asks, looking up at Madara.

Madara's dark eyes widen slightly as he turns to her. "I... would like that. But why?"

"Because you sound like you wanted to hear it again..." Sakura says softly.

"I would," Madara admits, "but I can always read it by myself."

"But I want to do something nice for you," Sakura says, then smiles.

Madara smiles back, albeit daintily. "Thank you."


	12. The Mistake

"Run!" Hashirama yells, pulling Sakura from her horror to the reality, which is just as horrible. She watches with a paling face as two enemy shinobi slink closer to her, hands up and posed, ready to attack if need be. Sakura craws backward trying to keep away from them, her entire body is shaking, making her retreat harder. The two shinobi in front of her are enough to distract her and have another one sneak around her.

"Sakura!" Tobirama snaps. "Behind you!"

Sakura's head whips around to the side, eyes wide like sausors. She sees another man behind her, face twisted into a sick sneer as he reaches out toward her. She dives away, toward her three brothers and husband, managing to slip between his fingers immediately, but her hands didn't land properly beneath her and her chin slammed into the dirt. Her teeth clank together, making her shiver and distracting her long enough for him to step over her and weave his fingers through her now messy braid and pull her up by her roots.

Her eyes find Madara's, and he looks positively murderous.

"Please," Sakura whimpers, "help me!"

Madara's Mangekyo spins to life in his eyes. His chakra floats around him, a physical manifestation of his rage.

"That's it, beautiful," the man says into Sakura's ear, no doubt loud enough for her brothers and husband to hear, she can barely hear him over the roar of her blood in her ears. "That's it, scream for me." His tongue touches her jaw and slides up the side of her face, making her shake and gag at the feeling. No one has ever touched her like that. Never has she been so violated and degraded.

His touch was repulsive and it made tears stream from Sakura's eyes. She kept staring at Madara, begging him to save her. Like her begging would somehow release him from the prison he's trapped in.

"My lady," the man says, reaching down to grip her right elbow, making her head tilt slightly to see what he was doing, before he roughly yanked her hair back, making her yelp. "I said, scream for me." Sakura has no idea what he was doing, but he had to be pinching some sort of nerve in her arm because there was instant pain racing between her fingers and shoulder.

Sakura screams. No one has ever hurt her before. Not really. She hasn't built up any tolerance to pain. It wasn't until this moment that Sakura realized how pampered she truly lived. And because of that, she was now going to die.

 

Five hours earlier:

It was about two months after Sakura and Madara started their nightly ritual of Madara laying his head down on her lap and listen to her read the story almost every single night. So long as both of them weren't tired. They would change into their night clothes; typically a thin kimono for Sakura and pants for Madara, and then she would just read to him.

Sakura liked the story, just like Madara did. The heroine was humble and kind and sacrificed herself in order to save the world from this great evil that was threatening to swallow it whole. Supposedly, the great evil appeared from no where and began to devour the world in all it's forms. Life, light, even death. Everything was eaten up by this evil. It took it seven short years to span the would until it finally reached the priestess and her people. There was a small part in the story about a king that was appalled at this woman being seen as benevolent and wonderful when she was just a woman, and ultimately going to her, begging for her to save the world. She had all the reason to deny him, let him suffer, but she didn't. She didn't see his ignorance as anything more that just that. Ignorance.

She felt that she was brought into the world to heal it. That there was no greater purpose than sacrificing herself to save the people. She had no one. No family, or lover. She dedicated her life to living for everyone else. That was what she thought was the reason that she was let onto that world. But there was a small snippet in the story that mentioned how the people mourned her when she withered and died saving the world, that no one cried out more in pain than the eldest son of a great lord whose love could never have been realized.

"Does that mean that someone loved her..?" Sakura had asked one night, after so many times reading this story to Madara. She had always wonder, but hadn't asked until them.

Madara, who closed his eyes to listen to her read, opened them slowly, looking up at her from where his head was positioned on her thighs. "There was many people who loved her," Madara said, "that is why the world cried out. But the eldest son of a great lord was in love with her, but she didn't believe that she could love just one person so she denied him. But he loved her, all the way until the end. After she was gone, he never loved again. He died with her still in his heart." Madara pauses, as if suddenly embarrassed. "At least, that is what my mother always said, anyhow."

Sakura liked that, even to this day, she thought about that. How wonderful it was to be loved like that. It was a love that transcended time.

"Sakura?" Hashirama's voice pulls her from her thoughts. She looks over at him as they jump from tree branch to tree branch. "Are you okay?"

Sakura nods. "Yeah. I'm... thinking about something." She smiles at him. "It's a story that Madara's mama wrote out."

Izuna, who was right in front of her, turns slightly to look over his shoulder to her. "Are you talking about the story with the Priestess?" Sakura nods. Izuna looks over at Madara, smiling. "I forgot all about that story. I can't believe you still have it. Mind if I borrow it some time?"

Madara, who was next to him, facing forward, smiles playfully. "Not on your life, little brother."

Izuna glares at him. "Jackass."

Madara shakes his head. "Language, little brother," he murmurs, before smiling over at his brother. "I'm just kidding, Izuna. As soon as we get back home, you're more than welcome to borrow it."

Izuna rolls his eyes. "Thank you."

Sakura giggles before looking over at Hashirama. "When will we get to the capital?"

Hashirama looks around. "Hmm... Tobirama, if he ever comes back, would probably know the answer to that better than I would," Hashirama says. He suddenly looks sheepish about having not known that.

Izuna glances over at Hashirama. "How far ahead does he usually scout?"

Hashirama gives him a wane smile. "Far enough ahead to make me worry that something has happened to him. Every single time." He shakes his head. "He's in the forest still, I can sense him, but he's pretty far ahead." There is a moment of pause, before he speeds up until he's in sync with Madara. "Do you mind if I go and check on him?"

"No," Madara says, glancing over at the Senju clan leader from the corner of his eye. "Go. Izuna and I will slow down for Sakura." Hashirama nods, before giving Sakura a wink and heading off ahead. Madara waits until Hashirama is out of earshot before muttering, "Worry wart," under his breath. Izuna chuckles at that.

After a whole two minutes of silence, Madara turns to look over at Izuna. "Hey, when you borrow mother's book, make sure you're careful with it."

Izuna glares at him. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

"I'm just saying," Madara says slowly, "you tend to be a bit thoughtless when dealing with things. I just want you to know that you have to be careful. Mother spent a lot of hours on that and it's irreplaceable."

Izuna glares at him even more. "Don't you think I know that? She was my mother too. I deserve to see it too."

"I'm not saying that," Madara says, looking over at his little brother. "I'm just saying that you are thoughtless sometimes."

Izuna groaned. That launched the two of them into an argument over something Izuna apparently broke a few years ago that irreplaceable. Thankfully, it wasn't something of theirs but they had to do a lot of favors for free in order to make up the price of the artifact that Izuna broke. Sakura was looking between them with wide, innocent eyes as they bickered.

She was so enraptured by the two arguing brothers that she miss-stepped and fell from the tree. She yelped, which alerted the two brothers that there was something wrong, but they didn't realize what it was until it was too late.

"Sakura!" Madara calls out as Sakura plummets. Both brothers leaped after her in an attempt to try and catch her but Sakura hits the ground on her feet and immediately rolls. Right down a hill. Sakura rolls all the way down to the bottom of a small hill, messing up her hair and clothes and leaving her dazed by the time Madara managed to scoop her up into his arms.

"Are you alright?" Madara asks, eyes scanning her body for injuries when Izuna lands next to him.

Sakura looks around dizzy. "Whoa," she says, shaking her head. "Can I do that again?"

Madara lets out an un-amused huff. "No," he says, but he can't disguise the slightly relief laced into his word.

Izuna shakes his head, a slightly amused curve to his lips. "You can't be left unsupervised for a minute, can you, Sakura?"

Sakura's vision straightens out and she grins at her new brother. "I'm okay."

Izuna rolls his eyes. "I've never met someone more clumsy than you. I'm surprised you can still walk around upright at all, since you kick the shit out of yourself practically every single day." Sakura laughs at that, along side Izuna, while Madara didn't to appreciate his words all that much.

Madara puts Sakura down and she straightens out her shinobi garbs. The same red and green battle kimono she wore to the Uchiha compound to save Izuna's life. Her hair was even pulled back up into it's braid, like then too, but without all the flowers. Sakura makes sure that everything is in place before realizing that her kunai pouch was open and the contents was spilled out down the hill. She must have forgotten to clip it closed when she put Tobirama's kunai in it earlier.

Izuna and Madara both realized that Sakura's weapons were scatter along the hill and shared an exasperated look before helping her gather them up. They must have been taking their sweet time because Hashirama and Tobirama managed to make it back to them before they were done.

"What happened?" Hashirama asks, dropping down from the trees next to Izuna, who was pulling a shuriken from a bush.

"Lady Uchiha took a header down the hill," Izuna says, glancing over at Hashirama and Tobirama.

The look that the two brothers had on their faces was a stark contrast that fit their personalities perfectly. Hashirama laughed and Tobirama looked completely done with this entire trip. Izuna cracks a grin at that before adding the shuriken to the stack in his right hand before continuing his search.

"Are you okay?" Hashirama asks the pink haired girl, who was stuffing an kunai into her pouch. "Are you hurt?"

Sakura shakes her head. "Nope!"

"How that never seems to hurt you, I will never know," Tobirama mutters, shaking his head. "Be more careful," he orders.

"Yes, sir," Sakura says, grinning at her big brothers.

"Did you find everything?" Hashirama asks.

"Probably most," Madara says, handing his collection to Sakura. "Unfortunately, we've wasted enough time looking. We have to keep going on."

Hashirama nods. "Yeah, the meeting is going to start soon. Thankfully we aren't far. As I said, it's just so that the Daimyo and the Fire Council can hear about our idea of forming a Shinobi village and possible forge an alliance. We still won't know for certain one way or the other for a while." Hashirama shrugs, but isn't able to hide his excitement for their village being officially recognized by the Land of Fire.

"Madara is right," Tobirama says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Thankfully, ninja tools such as those are throw-aways. We'll just get you some more, Sakura, now we should go."

Sakura nods, walking over to Izuna to take his pile and stuffs them into her pouch before clipping it closed. They all jump up into the trees. All the boys quickly move on, but Sakura pauses, turning to looking down at the field. There was a nagging in the back of her head. There was something she was forgetting about that she really shouldn't be. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of what it was.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura figured it wasn't all that important. If it was, she would have remembered it right away. Right?

"Hurry, little blossom! We don't want to be late!" Hashirama calls, pulling Sakura from her thoughts. She quickly makes to follow, pushing that nagging feeling to the back of her mind. She can worry about it later.

 

They had stood before the Fire Council and told their purpose for being there. Well, Madara and Hashirama did. Sakura, Tobirama and Izuna just stood behind them with their heads bowed and kept silent unless they were directly spoken to by the Daimyo or anyone on the Fire Council. Thankfully, they were more interested in Hashirama and Madara. Two legendary titans, whose battles were infamous even in the capital.

Hashirama was called a God of the Shinobi. His talents known far and wide. Just having someone of his caliber standing before them was enough to catch all of their attention. Plus, Hashirama was extremely charismatic. Madara was stoic and a powerful presence, but Hashirama was like a firecracker of life and energy. He was having them laughing and telling him things that maybe shouldn't have been discussed on a perfessional matter, but Sakura, Izuna, Tobirama and Madara kept quiet on that.

If they liked Hashirama, the chances of them investing was great. Madara preferred being quiet and letting Hashirama talk, so that's what happened. Hashirama seemed to win them over and they promised to give their idea a great deal of thought and promised to summon them again soon. The Daimyo even offered to let them stay in the capital for the rest of the day and even for the night before they make the trek home, but they had to refuse.

"As much as I would love to spend more time in this splendid city, but unfortunately we've been away too long from home and have to return," Hashirama says, sounded genuinely sad by that. "But next time, should you offer it again, my lord, I would love to take you up on your offer." He, along with his two siblings and the Uchiha brothers all bow deeply before the Daimyo excuses them and they leave.

Hashirama was right. It's about a three day run to get to the capital - because Sakura was with them, it would have been quicker with just them, but they stood as a united force. Sakura being there was proof that their unification wasn't for show or temporary - and they needed to get home soon. With just the elders left in charge of the village in Madara's and Hashirama's absences has left all of them fearing the worst. The old bags weren't as... forward thinking as Hashirama and Madara were and while the threat of them trying to purposefully destabilize their relationship with the other clan was preposterous, the chances of accidently doing so is too great for either clan leader and their respective heirs and brothers to recommend staying away for any longer than necessary.

It was approaching late afternoon to early evening when they finally left the capital. They managed to make it past the part of the forest Sakura took her unfortunate spill when they dropped to the ground and slowed down so that Sakura could rest a bit. Not to mention they reached a field where there was no more trees for them to jump to. Sakura was at the front of the group, admiring the flowers the dotted the field, half hearing her brothers and husband talking behind her about the meeting.

"I think that went well," Hashirama says for the tenth time since they left the capital.

"I'd have to agree," Izuna says. "I used to think everything you said was just hot wind, but now that I'm actually listening to you, you don't sound nearly as stupid as I thought you did."

"Thank you," Hashirama says, sounding please. Madara rolls his eyes.

"Don't be a little asshole, Izuna," Madara says simply, not sounding all that mad really.

Tobirama grunts before looking over at Hashirama. "It's a good thing that you can make anyone in the world like you brother," he says simply. "For I fear, without this strange ability of yours, this would have been more difficult than it was."

Hashirama beams. "Thank you, Tobirama. I'm so glad that you are finally starting to appreciate your big brother. I do so much for you, it's nice to finally get the appreciation that I deserve," he says teasingly. Tobirama grunts again, rolling his eyes.

Hashirama lets out a strong laugh, throwing his head back and everything. "Come now, Tobirama! Don't give me that-" he cuts off. Sakura notices immediately. She goes to look behind herself to her brothers and husband but she feels someone's hand push her hand in the center of the back, sending her flying forward. She stumbled and rolled a bit before landing on her back, staring at the blue sky for a split second before she realized something was horribly wrong.

The moment after the realized, she heard it, "Hashirama!" That was Tobirama's voice.

Sakura sits up quickly and looks over at where her brothers and husband were. Her eyes widen in horror.

They are all trapped in a large purplish barrier. In the center is a circular seal that's lit up a bright yellowish color and in the very center of that, is Hashirama. Down on his hands and knees, his natural poisonous green chakra is pouring out of him, into the seal. Tobirama, Madara and Izuna are all throw to the ground too, as if Hashirama shoved all of them - including Sakura - away from him, but they, unlike her, were still trapped in the barrier.

"What's it doing to him, Tobirama?" Izuna asks, jumping to his feet alongside Madara, quickly followed by the white haired Senju.

Crimson eyes quickly study the seal before widening in a mixture of horror and rage. His lips curve downward in anger, "Shit," he says through gritted teeth. "It's sucking his chakra out of him."

"I can see that," Madara snaps, "but can't we move him?"

"No," Tobirama growls, his anger not directed at Madara or Izuna. "Damn it all!"

"What is happening?" Izuna asks, exasperatedly. "We can't read seals like you two. What the hell does it mean?"

Tobriama finally looks at them, as if he forgot that they were there. "It's using Hashirama's chakra to power the barrier. It won't stop until he's dead. If we try and alter the seal and somehow mess it up, it won't just be sapping his chakra, it'll just suck it all out and kill him quicker. Same for if we attack the barrier. One mistake and it'll kill Hashirama."

"Shit!" Madara growls. "How the hell do we get out?"

"I'm thinking," Tobirama mutters, eyes locked onto the seal, lips moving without any words coming out. His big brain is working. Hashirama, luckily, has a monstrous amount of chakra, unlike what most have seen, even said to rival that of the Uzumaki, and so he's able to hold on longer than most. But the amount of chakra pouring out of him and into the seal is alarming. It would have easily killed someone in a seven or eight minutes, maybe. If Hashirama's lucky, at this rate, he's got maybe twenty to twenty five minutes before he's completely drained.

Hashirama's long brown hair is spilled over his shoulders, obscuring his face from view, but to Sakura's horror, she could see his shoulders shaking slightly from exertion.

Sakura scrambles to her feet and runs over to them. Tobirama spots her right as she reaches them. His eyes widen when she reaches out to touch the barrier. "Sakura, no!"

Her fingers touch the smooth surface of the barrier and it sends a crack of lightning back at her, throwing her back so hard that she hits her back and shoulders and skids against the dirt and grass before finally stopping. She twitches, her entire body numb for a moment before the prickly sensation begins to sprinkle up and down her limbs, and then her torso, making her shutter.

"Sakura," Madara calls out, getting as close to the barrier as he dares. "Are you alright? Speak to me!"

Sakura shakily pushes herself up onto her arms, slightly dazed. "Owie," she says softly.

Her eyes lock onto her brothers and Madara, unable to believe what was happening. They were all trapped behind a barrier that was killing her older brother. Sucking out his chakra to keep the rest of them trapped. If they don't find a way out soon, he's going to die. Just like that. She will have lost someone else she loved, without any sort of warning or ability to prevent it.

"Sakura," Tobirama says, "I need you to look around out there. Look for a seal key out there. It's the only other way to break the seal. It has to be close in order for the seal to be active!"

Sakura's eyes roam the grass around her, unable to really focus. Her horror is getting the best of her.

"Run!" Hashirama yells.

 

Present time:

Her entire body is shaking, in fear and confusion. How could this be happening to them? This should have been their time of peace. They should have been happy with the unification of the clans and the forging of their new shared home. This shouldn't be happening.

The man lets out a sickening snicker next to her, making her shiver in fear and sob quietly in fear. The field is quickly filling with five, ten, fifteen, then twenty guys in total. Decked out in makeshift armor. It's not high class in anyway, but there was no denying that they were shinobi. There was no clan markings, as far as Sakura could tell, to signify where they hail from.

The man shifts behind her and she can feel the hear of his body against her back, making her freeze, eyes locked onto the absolutely murderous look in Madara's eyes. The man kisses the side of Sakura's neck, making her jerk away as far as she can with his hand still wrapped up in her long, messy braid. Her efforts in trying to get away only seem to amuse the man. His free hand finds her waist and slides it up her side toward breasts and she wiggles furiously, trying to dislodge his hand all the while crying out, "No, no, no!" in fear.

"Leave her alone!" Izuna growls, Sharingan spinning to life in his eyes.

The man laughs. "We got two Uchiha, boys! And they seem to have, um, claimed this bitch!" He laughs again, joined by his companions, as they circle the barrier. "Pretty as can be, aren't you?"

"Keiichi," one of them yells, "the sacrifice in the center of the seal is still alive! Holy shit!"

"Sweet Kami," another says, "we caught big fish, boys! That's the Senju clan leader! Shit! And his little brother!"

The man holding Sakura's hair laughs. "Shit, then these two must be the Uchiha clan leader and his little brother. I thought you were dead, little brother Uchiha," the man laughs.

"No way," another says. "Didn't I hear he was saved by the Senju Princess?"

"Yeah," says another to Sakura's right, staring down at her with wide eyes. "Wasn't she suppose to have unique cherry blossom colored hair?"

"Hm," the man behind Sakura hums appreciatively, giving her head a good yank. Sakura whimpers, reaching up to grip her own hair, to try and keep it in her scalp. At the rate he keeps pulling it, she's going to have a huge bald spot soon enough to accompany the unbelievable pain that comes with having your hair, scalp and all, pulled out at once.

"This is interesting," the man behind Sakura says, kissing her neck again. She tries to pull away once more but is yanked back by her hair. She yelps, tears streaming down her face. She's so unbelievably scared. Never in her life has she ever felt this sort of fear and pain. She's going to die. She really going. "You aren't just any regular bitch from the boonies. You're a Lady," he says sarcastically, cackling at that.

"Sakura," Hashirama says, looking up at her with a face completely drained of color, his shoulders shaking, betraying his strong voice, "you have to do whatever you must to get away. You have to. What they plan to do..." he flinches, those brown depths revealing pain and worry and a killing intent that Sakura has never seen before.

The man laughs, groping Sakura's breast and pulling her back against him, he rubs against her and she cries even harder. "What the tree fairy is trying to say, my lady, is I'm going to fuck the prestige right out of you." Sakura's entire face drains of color. She knew that she would one day have to bare children, but those were suppose to be Madara's. Her husband's. She wasn't suppose to let anyone else touch her. Not like that. She was scared to be with Madara, but a part of that was childishness. She wasn't ready to grow up just yet and was comfortable with him willing to wait for her - she loved that! - and the prospect of anyone other than Madara doing something like that to her was completely unbelievable. It was insane.

Sakura reaches out her left to Madara, tears streaming down her face. "Madara! Madara!" Madara's entire body is trembling in absolute rage. At some point he had summoned his gunbai fan and scythe. His knuckles are starch white around them.

"Let her go," Tobirama snarls, crimson eyes blown wide. If looks could kill, none of them would be alive. "Now."

The man laughs. "Just because the Uchiha and Senju have spent the last century honing your skills against one another doesn't mean the rest of the world has been sitting idly by twiddling out thumbs. You aren't the only shinobi in the world. I just..." he laughs again, shaking his head. "I just can't believe such a trap managed to actually catch you. Not just a Senju or an Uchiha. But two Uchiha and two Uchiha! Maybe all those stories were just hot shit all long!"

"Sakura, run, now!" Hashirama roars, brown eyes wide. In the time that the man behind her had been talking on and on, she managed to scrape together enough courage to reach into kunai pouch and pull out a kunai. Without thinking of anything other than: I have to get away. I have to get away. I have to get away now. She brought the kunai up and let the sharp end slide up through her hair, separating her from her braid, before she just brings the kunai down into his thigh. No one has the right to touch her like he had without her permission. No one! She was in charge of deciding when she was touched and how! No one else was!

The man cries out in pain and Sakura lunges away, swiping her foot out to knock the guy to the right of her down onto his back before she ran toward the forest pausing for a split second to look into the barrier at her brothers and husband, wanting nothing more than to somehow break down the purple wall that separates her family and her. So that they would be able to save her.

No, that wasn't right.

Sakura had to be the one to save them now. She wasn't some weak little girl anymore. She was a shinobi! She was a Senju Princess! She was an Uchiha Lady! She could do anything she set her mind to! She just had to get her brothers and husband out so that they would be able to help her!

"Run!" Tobirama yells. "Run as fast as you can!"

Easy for him to say. Tobirama had the Flying Raijin to help him get to places instantaneously! Not everyone could do that!

Sakura's eyes widen in rememberance. Her hand goes flying to her kunai pouch feeling around inside for Tobirama's kunai, feeling for the special engraving that each and every one of his kunai had. If she could get that out, he would be able to teleport to her and together they could take these guys.

But to Sakura's absolute horror, it wasn't there. Now she remembered what she left behind when she fell down that hill.


	13. Fight Back

Sakura's not sure how long it took her to backtrack all the way to that place where she fell, but it felt like an eternity. As she searched, frantically for Tobirama's signature kunai, all she could think about was Hashirama's body sinking closer and closer to the ground, unable to break from the seal from the inside. Each second felt like an hour and genuine terror began to take over. What if she somehow managed to find Tobirama's kunai and makes it back to them, only to find Hashirama dead? All of them dead? What if she failed them?

In the last year or so, Sakura has been taking her training as a shinobi more serious than she ever had before, but it wasn't enough. She was useless to them. Useless to her brothers and her husband. If she couldn't stop a bunch of ronin from hurting her family, how in the world could she ever expect to protect them from anyone. If any of them die, it's all her fault.

Sakura shakes her head violently, trying to shake away the tears that are building up in her eyes. She has to hurry. She has to get back to her family. She has to save them. She's the only one who can.

Sakura's hands kick up dirt and leaves, as they skim the ground, trying to find Tobirama's kunai. Her large green eyes darting back and forth, searching for something glittering off the sunlight peaking through the trees. Anything that could help her find that kunai. She has to find it, she has to!

Something gleams in the sunlight when Sakura turns her head sharply. She freezes and slowly starts to turn her head back the same way, hoping to see the glint of light again. She does, further down the hill. She rushes over to it, stooping down a bit, waist bent before spotting a kunai partially covered by leaves, she pulls it out, heart pounding loudly in her chest.

Sakura chest falls, seeing that it was just another regular kunai. Not the one she was looking for.

Sakura sank to her knees in horror, the kunai slipping from her hand and landing on the ground next to her. Sakura has no idea how long she's been away, this may be too late. What is she going to do? Has she wasted too much time already, trying to find a kunai that might be truly swallowed up by the forest? Was this a fatal mistake all along? Is it too late now?

Sakura opens her mind, deciding to just head back. She'll think of something. She can't waste any more time. She can't just let her mind shut down in hopelessness. She has to keep moving.

Right as Sakura is about to stand up, she sees it. Tobirama's kunai is sticking out of the tree next to her, at an odd angle that she could only barely see from where she was. It was dangling out of a protruding root, the shadow of the tree partially hiding it. Not waiting a moment longer, Sakura darts toward it, yanking the metal from the wood and spinning around, heading back the way she came. She can't waste a moment longer. She has to get back to her family. She has to do everything she can to get back to them.

And hope and pray that it's not too late.

 

Sakura lands on a tree branch right next to the barrier, overlooking the field. Thankfully, inside the barrier, Hashirama was still hunched over, but breathing. It wasn't too late. Hashirama was still alive, which means this wasn't the end. Madara, Tobirama and Izuna were circling the barrier, studying it with their red eyes. Izuna and Madara's sharingan were studying the flow of chakra, while Tobirama was trying to find a loophole within the seal that would release Hashirama.

Sakura looks over at the ronin. There was probably only seven of them now. Sakura had originally counted at least ten before, but some of them were gone. They probably chased after Sakura into the forest, but she must have somehow lost them. Best to get moving now, while there is less of them, and hope that she can free her family in time.

She's not a fighter, and even if she was, she wasn't a tactician like Tobirama was. She couldn't look down at a potential battlefield and see all of the possibilities like he could. Even Hashirama could see the battlefield like a shogi game. See everywhere things could go and how to best go about this situation, but Sakura wasn't like that. She could only stare down at the enemy and tell two simple things from it. She was out numbered and out skilled.

But that wasn't going to stop her. She had to do this. She had to save her family. There was no other option other than that.

Sakura shifts slightly, looking down at the man just a few feet in front of her. She shivers a bit, in fear and worry. What if she somehow messes this up? What if she can't save her brothers and husband? What if this really is the end?

No, no, she can't think about that. She has to focus on doing all that she could to save them.

"Still no word," one of the men says to who Sakura assumes is the leader. The one that wanted to do... unsavory things to her. She shrinks back a bit, scared that he would somehow be able to feel her staring at him. "Lady Uchiha managed to disappear into the forest. We can't seem to locate her."

"Well someone better find her soon," the man growls, heading toward the forest, a few yards away from Sakura, much to her relief. "I'll look for her. We can't afford to let her get back to the Uchiha and Senju clans, do you morons get that?" He growls, voice disappearing with him as he sneaks off into the darkening tree line. Sakura holds her breath for a moment, before turning her attention back to the man beneath her.

She takes a moment to muster up her courage, she can't afford another moment, before she strikes. Now it's down to six ronin, which is starting to make it a bit more even, and Hashirama doesn't have much more time.

Sakura kicks off the branch toward the man beneath her, thankfully not overshooting him, and landing on his back and kneeing him to the floor. Sakura brings the kunai up, reading to stab it down, when the man somehow spins around underneath and catches her arms, holding the kunai away from him. Sakura goes up on her knees, using her weight to try and push it down. The kunai shakes madly as the two of them fight over it.

"Sakura?" Madara calls. "What are you doing?"

"Tobi!" Sakura yells, looking through her chopped hair to see Tobirama moving over to the side of the barrier right next to her. "Tobi!" Sakura yells again, slowly inching her fingers up and down the hilt to reveal the seal.

"Tobirama," Madara says sharply, "it's your kunai!"

Tobirama's eyes widen in realization before his entire body freezes as his chakra floats around him. Sakura turns her gaze back down at the man, now trying to keep her hold on the kunai even with the strange grip she now has on it. Then there is a flash and Tobirama is out of the barrier and right by Sakura's side, hand wrapped around the handle of the kunai. With his added strength, Sakura and Tobirama are able to plunge the kunai into chest of the man beneath her. Sakura yanks her hands back, covering her eyes and stumbling back while Tobirama takes his kunai and quickly starts going after the other ronin.

She only stumbles back two or three steps before Sakura remembers that if she covers her eyes, she could die. She quickly pulls her hands away from her eyes and looks around. Thankfully, the ronin were smart enough to realize that Tobirama was the bigger threat of the two of them so they all converged on him. Sakura turns away, running to the barrier, eyes scanning it, looking for a way in.

"Madara...?" Sakura says, looking up at her husband.

Madara, still frowning deeply, shakes his head. Sakura glances over at her eldest brother, who's on his hands and knees, forehead pressed against the ground, unable to hold himself up. Izuna is at his side, looking worried, but he doesn't touch Hashirama lest he suddenly become trapped in the seal as well.

"Sakura," Madara says, stepping into her vision, "Tobirama told us that there should be a seal key around here. We have to find it and break the seal, then Hashirama can be released. If we attack the barrier, it'll kill Hashirama. So we have to break the seal key. Look around for it while Tobirama handles the ronin. We have to get this barrier deactivated."

Sakura turns around and scans the area, helplessly having no idea where to start. Tobirama said it had to be around here, but that doesn't help her much. Was it within ten feet? Fifteen? Was it the size of the human body? Or a pin head? Sakura knew nothing about seals, and suddenly wished that she did. There was just so much that she didn't know that she wished she did. There was so much that she only knew a little bit about that ultimately equated to nothing in the long run.

Sakura kept thinking to herself that she had to really kick up her training - and she has! In the last year, she's become so much more powerful than she was before, but her training was limited by her lack of ability within ninjutsu - but it never seemed like enough. It feels like she's back on that log, what seems like forever ago, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a fireball only to be tossed into the river and nearly drowned.

She was helpless then, and she's helpless now.

Sakura's eyes flicker over to Tobirama to see him surrounded by the ronin. They were a lot more skilled then Sakura originally thought, that and there was like ten of them now surrounding him.

"Sakura!" Madara calls.

Sakura turns slightly only to catch someone running toward her. The same man that held her earlier. Who she assumes is the leader of this rag tag group. He must have either given up looking for her, or heard the commotion and returned. It doesn't matter why he's there, just that he's there and he's closing the distance between them quickly.

Sakura's eyes widen in horror, quickly back stepping in order to try and get away from him, but he's advancing faster than she's retreating. He was able to catch up with her quickly and instead of playing around like he was earlier, he was snarling and grabbed Sakura around the neck hefting her a few feet off the ground. Sakura gasps in pain, hands wrapped around the man's wrists, trying to yank herself free.

The pink haired Uchiha brings her leg back and kicks the man hard in the gut, hard enough to force him to drop her. Sakura falls to the dirt and immediately tries to climb back onto her feet. She barely has her balance before the man brings a fist back and hits her right in the jaw, making her fall back down again with a yelp, blood filling her mouth. She bit her tongue.

Sakura feels blood trickle down the corner of her mouth as she staggers back to her feet, knowing that she has to fight or she'll die. But once again she's not fast enough and he catches her again, wrapping one hand around her neck this time, making sure to keep her far enough away so that her legs won't be able to reach him again.

He's breathless and in pain, but there is an angry sneer on his face. He reaches forward with his other hand and wipes the bit of blood off the corner of her mouth and licks it, grinning wickedly down at her. Tears fill Sakura's eyes as she looks around crazily, trying to find something that could help her get out of this situation but her vision was blurring too quickly for her to be able to see anything. All that she could do is watch in horror and disgust as he licked up her blood like it was the sweetest nectar in the world.

Sakura shivers in disgust, wanting nothing more than to just pull her blood from his body. The last thing in the world is ever having anything - even as minute as blood - in common with this horrible, horrible man.

Sakura's eyes widen in surprise. She blinks a few times, trying to clear her vision enough to see his face. The horrible realization crosses her mind and before she reaches up and wraps her small hands around the man's wrists one more time, closing her eyes. She summons her chakra to the surface and probes at his, forcing his to do the same. His face twists into a perplexed expression.

Sakura slowly opens her eyes and stares into the man across from her and whispers, "Transference."

 

Izuna watches as his one time enemy and newly made friend, Hasirama Senju, lose all color in his face and body begin to tremble beyond control. At some point, there wasn't even enough energy in his body to continue shaking, he just drooped further and further to the ground as his massive chakra supply was drained from him.

It was strange.

If Izuna had to put a definition on 'Life', it would be: Hashirama. He was so alive all the time. He was gitty and bouncing around like he had everywhere to be but not enough time to get there. Even his fighting style consists of healing people alongside manipulating forest foliage. Everything about him had something to do with life, it seems. Where it was a great source of annoyance for Izuna about the long haired Senju - with his endless energy and chakra supply and overwhelming personality - is now something he is thankful.

It was insane to see him now, the exact opposite of what Izuna had spent his entire life seeing. Hashirama was wilting, literally wilting like the flowers he loves so, before Izuna's very eyes. A year ago, Izuna would be so happy seeing this happening, watch as the great and powerful Senju clan leader, fell to a mere seal. But now, after all that they've gone through, without the curse, Izuna couldn't bring himself to even muster up the slightest bit of glee at this sight. All it did was twist his stomach and stab at his heart.

Izuna glances up to see Madara standing right in front of them, blocking his view of Sakura. Madara's back is ramrod straight and his shoulders are rolled back and squared. If Izuna could see his brother straight on, he knew his brother would have a set jaw and narrow eyes spinning with the Sharingan. He knew his brother all too well.

Izuna hesitates for a moment before standing up and stepping to the side to see Sakura, a hand around her throat, staring into the eyes of the man in front of her. They do a familiar jerk as if sent back into their own bodies and Sakura's eyes immediately fill with tears. She shakes her head as she starts to cry but instead of sobbing like the child she was still in her heart, she kept her gaze locked onto the man who said such horrible and lucrative things to her. At first the man looked confused, dazed by what happened, but then there was horror.

Izuna watched as sparkling lights began to leave the man's body and into Sakura's. At first, Izuna thought it was a trick of the eye, like he was somehow becoming delirious in this hot bubble, but the man saw it too and began to panic. He made to pull away from her, yelling out something incoherent, before his body froze, as if something was holding it into place.

"Wh-What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go, you little bitch!" the man yells, hands shaking.

Tears trickle down Sakura's cheeks. "I'm sorry..." Sakura sobs, but the sparkling lights keep leaving the man in front of her and into herself. "I'm sorry, I can't let you go... I can't..."

Her eyes slip closed.

The ronin leader makes a choking noise, sinking to his knees slowly, as if all the strength is leaving his body. The man is dry heaving but whatever Sakura is doing, she doesn't stop until he's completely collapsed onto the dirt and stopped moving completely. Sakura stands over him for a moment, crying softly with her body shaking before she leans down and touches something on his hand before looking over at them.

Then, the barrier around them began to crack and crumble to pieces, turning to shards to rain down upon them. Izuna leans his body over Hashirama, but the shards disappeared around them, leaking the chakra into the air. Normally, that monstrous amount of chakra would easily poison the area for years to come, but Hashirama, as per usual, is special. Hashirama's chakra is no different, for instead of poisoning the air, it easily dissipates into natural energy. In a few days time, this place will be completely overgrown.

Just as all of that was happening, Tobirama was quickly killing off the last of another batch of fifteen people who tried to encircle him, leaving almost thirty dead at his feet. He takes a moment to reach out with his sensing abilities before deciding that it's safe enough for the moment, but that doesn't mean there isn't more waiting for them outside his senses.

Hashirama, once the seal was destroyed, was released and crumbled to the ground like a sack of rice, falling to his side, hair falling over his face. Sakura spins around and runs to him, pausing only to touch Madara's arm, as he slips past to survey the area, before dropping down to her knees next to her brother, softly calling out to him and taking his hand in both of her own. Izuna, who was on that side as well, stands up and backs away to make room for her to sit next to her brother.

"Aniki, aniki," Sakura says softly, pressing her lips to his hand.

Tobirama stoops down next to him, on Hashirama's other side, and tenderly pushes his brother's hair from his face, taking in the eldest man's gray pallor and trembling lips. But his heart was still beating, erratically, but the fact remains the same. Hashirama is a live, still, for the moment. But not much longer if he isn't properly cared for.

"Madara," Tobirama says, turning slightly to look over at the next in charge, "we need to take Hashirama back to the village. Now."

Madara's eyes scan the field for a moment more, before he turns back toward them and heads over, quickly. "Can you carry him, Tobirama?"

Tobirama nods, immediately turning his back toward Hashirama, reaching back to grab his arms, before pulling Hashirama onto his back and slowly raising to his feet, adjusting to have the foreign weight on his back. But he manages to find his footing before nodding to Madara.

Madara turns toward Sakura and touches her cheek, wiping away the small bit of blood that remains trickling from the corner of her mouth. "Can you run?"

Sakura nods her head. "I can run." After this, she felt like she could do just about anything.

"Good," Madara says, "Sakura, you lead the way. Izuna, you take the left, I'll take the right. Let's move."

With Tobirama holding Hashirama in the center, they move, swiftly making their way back to their home. And pray that it is not too late to save Hashirama.

 

Sakura didn't stop once, no matter how tired she became. All she could do was stare forward, as the trees whiz past them. Sakura was never fast, especially compared to someone like Tobirama, but she found a speed within herself in these moments. It's almost like she's unable to do anything but run as fast as her legs can carry her. She knows that she's tired, at some point, but she can't feel it.

All she can focus on is the sound of Tobirama's labored breaths behind him, carrying the weight of their elder brother on his back. It's nothing that Tobirama can't handle, his armor is pretty heavy itself, but this is different. The dead weight on their seemingly invincible older brother on his back is like thousands of extra pounds draped across his shoulders. But he won't stop. Not until Hashirama is home safe.

So neither will Sakura.

The journey back home is thankfully uneventful but longer than the frayed nerves on the four conscious can bare. Once they reach the village, though, Tobirama is quick to head toward their home, pausing only to look over at Sakura and say, "She's at the riverbed down by the large rocks," before continuing on to their home without stopping again. Sakura quickly turned in the direction of the river when her legs buckled beneath her.

She didn't realize how exhausted she was until that very moment. Madara's hand under her arm catches her before she hits the ground, and he easily pulls her back up to her feet, accepting her weight when she leaned on him. Sakura looks up at him, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"We have to find her..." Sakura says softly.

Madara's eyes turn toward the river and asks, "Who are you looking for? I'll go find her."

"Aunt Lia," Sakura says.

Madara nods, looking over at Izuna. "I'll go look for her, can you take care of Sakura?"

Izuna nods, stepping closer and putting a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sure, brother. We'll go wait outside their house for when you get back."

Madara steps back. "Got it." Then he turns and runs in the direction of the river. Sakura watches his back until he's out of her sight before allowing herself to be dragged along by Izuna to the home she used to share with her brothers for the short time that she was in there before she moved into the Uchiha household. It's only been a few weeks, but Sakura felt like it's been forever since she was last there.

Sakura and Izuna stayed outside while people piled in, especially after Madara showed up with Lia. They disappeared into the house and a minute later Tobirama came walking out, looking almost lost. He drops down onto the steps on the porch. His elbows prop up on his knees and his head drops. He lets out a long winded sigh.

Sakura walks over to her brother and sits down next to him, looking over at Madara and Izuna, who stood side-by-side staring back at them, before laying her head onto Tobirama's shoulder. She wraps her hand around the crook of his arm and closes her eyes.

"Hashirama-ani is going to be okay, Tobi," Sakura says softly, pressing closer to her brother. Tobirama wasn't a crier. He wasn't easily shaken or worried and even if he was, his normally stoic adittude is enough to hide how he feels. But Sakura can tell, both by the tenseness of his shoulders and jaw, and by the way he keeps swallowing, as if there is a lump there he can't seem to get down. But Tobirama doesn't say anything. He's not much of a talker anyway.

Sakura knew that Tobirama was taking this harder than he was letting on. Tobirama isn't good with dealing with people and emotions. That's why he and Hashirama was so perfect with one another. Hashirama can read Tobirama like an open book and was able to express everything that Tobirama couldn't because while it was a great source of annoyance for Tobirama most of the time, is something that Sakura knew he secretly loved.

Hashirama loved Tobirama so much. And he was able to show that so easily, so Tobirama didn't have to. But Tobirama also loved Hashirama so much. They were two of four brothers. The rest of the four was gone now. That was family. Four brothers, one mother and father. That was the real family. Thankfully, Sakura was able to fit into their lives, but now, of that family, only Hashirama and Tobirama remain. If it's serious enough, Tobirama is going to lose his big brother. His only real family by blood.

Bitch and complain about Hashirama all he wanted, in the end, Tobirama didn't want anything to happen to his big brother. Sakura didn't either, but Sakura could cry and whine and clutch onto someone without anyone batting an eyelash.

But not Tobirama. If he so much as sheds a single tear where others can see him, he's lost all respect that he's fought tooth and nail to get. So easily, all of it could come crashing down around him.

Sakura knows that Madara and Izuna wouldn't say anything. They were in a similar situation not too long ago and can easily sympathize, but it's still too public where they are. Anyone could walk by and see. It shows just how bad Tobirama is feeling, just by showing this much tension. Hashirama, for so long, as felt invincible to Sakura, and probably Tobirama too, it's a bit hard to see him so fragile and weak. He's unconscious, his body is going through the painful and draining process of chakra exhaustion. People have died from that.

So easily, Hashirama could be taken away from them. And it's ruining Tobirama not knowing.

"He'll be okay," Sakura says softly, knowing that someone has to be in Tobirama's corner right now. "He'll be okay, Tobi."

Tobirama takes a shaky breath, before letting it out slowly, trying to calm himself down, school his features. Izuna and Madara both look over at one another for a moment. Tobirama ignores them, trying to compose himself before standing up slowly. He kisses Sakura's hand before walking away. Sakura watches him go, wishing that there was something that she could do or say that would somehow alievate some of the fear and pain currently coiling around inside his head and gut, but she couldn't. She had to let him go.

He needed to be alone.

Izuna and Madara follow Sakura's lead and watch Tobirama go. Neither of them follow either, they know better than her what he needs. Tobirama needs to be somewhere where he can feel his feels and not have to care who's watching or listening in. He won't do it otherwise.

Sakura lays down on her side across the porch and stares out over the other homes all marked with the Senju clan symbol. Fellow clansmen walk about, glancing over at them, but no one approaches just watch from a distance. But at some point, errands call or they get bored and move on. While it's not against the rules for Madara and Izuna to be there - and even Sakura now that she's officially an Uchiha - but it's still strange to see them. Madara doesn't just go waltzing around the Senju compound like Hashirama does to the Uchiha. He doesn't see invisible borders like others do.

It's just not how he operates.

At some point, in her daze, Madara and Izuna found a seat on the porch next to her. Madara sitting between Sakura and his little brother. None of them said anything, just stared off at the evening sky as it turns from blue to a starburst of reds, oranges, pinks and yellows.

Sakura has no idea how long they sat there, saying and doing nothing other than waiting, before Tobirama returned looking more worn down and tired than when he left. He stops a few feet away and stares at them for a moment.

"Any news?" Tobirama asks, his voice low and gravelly, betraying his impassive face.

"No," Madara says, right as the door behind them open.

Sakura shoots up to a sitting position before turning toward Lia, who's graying hair is slipping from the tight bun she usually has it on the top of her head. She looks tired, but not sad.

"Hashirama-ani?" Sakura says, twisting around to look at her aunt.

"How is he?" Tobirama asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Lia lets out a sigh, stepping aside to let out a couple of other Senju that she pulled along to help her with Hashirama. She watches them go before looking over at Tobirama, then Sakura, then Madara and Izuna before returning to Tobirama.

"He's stable, for now. Chakra exhaustion puts the body in a frantic state. It's almost like losing too much blood. The body begins to overexert itself and start to shut down," Lia says slowly. "Thankfully, he's stable now, but tonight and most of tomorrow are going to be critical. He cannot be left alone."

Tobirama shakes his head. "Don't worry, Aunt Lia, I'll stay with him."

"Me too," Sakura says and Lia's eyes lower to her, taking in her ruffled appearance and butchered hair and without a doubt has many questions and opinions, but thankfully keeps them to herself. Now is definitely not the time.

"Good," Lia says. "He should sleep through most of it, just keep him hydrated and come get me if anything changes."

"Thank you," Tobirama says, tipping his head a bit. Lia nods before doing a little bow and leaving. Sakura, Madara and Izuna stand up and walk into Hashirama and Tobirama's house. It's unspoken between them that all four of them would be standing vigil for the Senju clan leader tonight.


	14. Confessions

The room is silent. It has been the entire night.

Madara and Izuna sat against the wall next to the door leading into Hashirama's bedroom while Tobirama sat at Hashirama's side and Sakura sat with his head on her lap. No one slept a wink that night. Other than Hashirama, who didn't make a noise. All he did was shake from chakra exhaustion the entire night. His breathing was uneven and loud in the otherwise silent room, while everyone else just kept vigil, waiting to see if Hashirama would survive the throughout the entire night.

Sakura runs her fingers through Hashirama's hair. She knew that her brother likes this feeling - he's told her many times that he did - and so she hoped that by doing this, it would help him wake up. Her arm was getting tired but she wouldn't stop, she wanted Hashirama to wake up soon. She hoped that he would at least be happy when he woke up, because he likes this feeling.

Sakura's brain shut down. She couldn't think about anything. All she could do is stare at Hashirama's gigantic weapons scroll right in front of her. He doesn't always have it on him, even though he joked that whenever he left the village he probably should, but he didn't this time. They were going to be late and he didn't perceive that they would need it. Not that it would have been able to help him trapped in that seal, but still. For some reason, Sakura couldn't stop staring at it, wishing that it was the magical item that brought her brother back to her. That helped him survive the night.

Once the night was over and the sun began to peak over the horizon, Hashirama finally stopped shaking. It wasn't until about an hour later that Momo came in. She opens the door slowly, peaking her head in, eyes wide. She looks down at Hashirama, trying to hide her horror, but it shows on her face. She closes the door a bit behind her and holds up a bit of supplies for Tobirama to see.

"Lia-san told me to come and fix Sakura-sama's hair... but... should I..." she trails off, not knowing what to say or do. She looks around lost, trying to look at anything other than Hashirama's unmoving body in the middle of the room.

"It's okay, Momo," Tobirama says slowly, looking over at Sakura's nightmare of a hair-do. "You can come in."

Momo walks over to Sakura, who had yet to even acknowledge the girl's presence. She waits a moment, hoping Sakura would look at her, but the pinkette doesn't move, her eyes still locked on the large scroll.

"My lady..?" Momo calls out softly. "My lady? May I touch you? I need to fix..." she takes a moment to really see Sakura's chopped hair. The back is extremely short now, completely cut uneven, and her fringe is as long as it was before. "I need to fix your hair, my lady. Is that okay with you?"

Sakura doesn't respond, her hand still sliding over Hashirama's scalp slowly. Momo glances over at Tobirama, who nods slightly, before she reaches out and lightly touches Sakura's shoulder, when the girl didn't immediately start fussing or pushing her away, Momo kneels down and pulls out scissors and starts trying to straighten out her hair, trying to find a way to hide the horrible condition until it grows out again. She's careful to catch every bit of hair before it hit the ground so that it doesn't scatter all over.

Sakura's fringe is now the longest part of her hair, hanging past her chin by two or three inches while the back of her hair stops at the top of her vertebrae. No longer could anything be done with her hair. It's strange to see a Lady - especially for a prominent clan like the Uchiha - to have such a super short haired Lady to represent them. This time was so judgmental about things like personal appearances. Momo knows that this isn't Sakura's fault and still believes that she's beautiful, but she also knows how cruel the world can be.

And Sakura looks like she can't take any tidbit of cruelty at the moment. She looks like fractured glass, one small action will force it to shatter to billions of pieces.

Sakura doesn't pause in her mechanical movements for a moment while Momo works. She just keeps staring and keeps running her blunt nails across Hashirama's scalp. Once Momo has gotten Sakura's hair somewhat under control - the back is a bit choppy but there was nothing she could really do - she pulls out a bright red ribbon and begins to tie it into her hair, the bow being at the top of Sakura's head.

At that moment, Hashirama takes a deep breath, snapping Sakura out of her haze. Her chin jerks down to her chest, pulling the ribbon from Momo's grasp and letting it fall to the floor, as she stares down at her big brother.

"Aniki...?" Sakura whispers, leaning down a bit to stare at her eldest brother's face, looking for any sign of him waking up.

But he doesn't. He just lets the long breath out before his breathing evens out again. Sakura's shoulders droop but she doesn't lift her head. After a moment of waiting for something to happen, Momo quickly, but neatly, ties the red ribbon into her hair before standing up, bowing slightly while holding the strands of Sakura's hair and leaving.

As soon as Momo left, Sakura broke down, bowing over her big brother, tears stream down her face, landing around Hashirama's face and in his hair. Sakura quietly weeps, shoulders shaking.

"Hashirama-ani," Sakura whimpers, "please wake up... I need you... Tobi needs you. Please wake up. We miss you..."

Tobirama takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. It's obvious that the last few hours of the day yesterday and having gone all night without sleep is catching up with all of them, if it's choking Tobirama up listening to Sakura cry. She's never seen Hashirama so still for so long the entire time she's been with him. He has always been this source of life and movement, it's hard to see his face so pale. To see him so still.

"Please come back to us, Hashirama-ani," Sakura sobs. "Tobi and I need you. We need you to come back to us! We miss you! I love you so much, Hashirama-ani. You were the first person to really welcome me into the family... I... I can never thank you enough, big brother. I was scared and confused and you loved me." Sakura lightly caresses his face. "You and Tobi let me be your family. You let me love you both and be loved by you. I haven't gotten to repay you yet, Hashirama, I haven't gotten to make it up to up yet! Please! Please!"

She kisses his forehead, holding that position for as long as she can before the strain on her neck and back is too much and she has to straighten up again, staring down at her big brother with bleary eyes. She sniffles loudly, but doesn't speak again. But now her eyes are locked onto Hashirama's face, looking for any sign of him waking up.

It was approaching early evening and barely anyone had moved from their place around Hashirama's room. Sakura had to keep shifting every couple of minutes to get blood to flow back to her legs, but didn't leave his side. Izuna only moved to send people away who came to see them. The elders would run the village for a few more days, Madara was in no condition to and Tobirama wasn't going to leave Hashirama right now.

Sakura was half hunched over, head hanging, as sleep was consuming her. She wasn't sturdy like the rest of them. She wasn't used to spend days awake doing high-stake situations one after another. It wasn't what she was used to, but she held out longer than she thought she would, but now it was catching up with her. Sakura finally moved, letting Hashirama's head rest against the pillow on the floor before curling up at his side.

Sakura curls around Hashirama as much as she can, wanting to be his shield at this very moment as he has been for her every single moment of her life from the moment she came to them to the moment she got married. Now the job is split between Hashirama and Madara. But this is the moment that she is able to try and protect him. Her invincible older brother.

Sakura falls asleep almost immediately.

 

"My cute imouto, why are you crying..?"

Sakura curls closer to her brother, relishing in her warmth. Her long lashes were wet with tears from her dreams. Someone's large hand settles on the top of her head, lightly running through the short tresses.

"You had such pretty long pink hair... I'm sorry you had to cut it."

"Hashirama-ani...?" Sakura murmurs, snuggling a bit more to Hashirama.

"Yes, imouto?"

"I want to see you again..." Sakura says softly. "I miss you..."

There is an amused whoosh of air from above her. "If you open your eyes, you can see me again, little blossom."

Sakura smiles lightly, before her eyes shoot open and she looks up, seeing Hashirama - pale faced with dark circles under his eyes - staring down at her. The room was lightening up, as the sun was rising. Sakura sits up quickly looking at Hashirama as if she couldn't believe it. In the corner of her eye, she could see Tobirama staring at Hashirama with an impassive expression on his face, but his eyes were soft, happy that Hashirama was awake.

"You're awake!" Sakura gasps, wanting to launch herself into his arms, but he looked exhausted and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him even more. So she reaches out and lightly touches his chin with shaky fingers, tears welling up in her eyes again. "Thank Kami!" Her voice squeaks. Hashirama places his warm palm against Sakura's cheek. She puts her hand on the other side of his to hold it in place, relishing in his warmth.

There is a moment of silence as she just tries to absorb his presence. He was alive, he was awake, he would be okay. Her brother was so strong, Sakura was so happy. But there was something else. Now that the scary fear of losing Hashirama is starting to pass, the reality of what she did is coming back to her. Full force. It is hard to keep her mind in check. She isn't used to compartmentalizing like this and before she knows it, she's spilling her guts.

"I did something bad, Hashirama-ani! I... I killed him! I used transference and I... I killed him! I pulled the lifeforce from his body! I didn't know what else to do!" Sakura chokes, remembering one of the worst parts about the whole thing. "He... I saw his most deepest desire..." Sakura whimpers, squeezing her eyes shut. "He... he wanted to do things - bad things! - to people. To women and children! He -He wanted to hurt them! He wanted to make them... make them... oh kami! I saw it all!" Sakura sobs, grabbing hold of Hashirama's arm tightly. "He wouldn't leave me! I can still see him behind my eyelids!" She shakes her head vigorously. "Why won't he leave me alone! Why?"

Hashirama pulls his hand away from her cheek and wraps his arms around her, his grip is loose and in the back of her mind Sakura knew that it was because he couldn't summon up much more strength than that. He was still tired.

"Taking a life..." Hashirama says softly, resting his chin on the top of her head, "it's... never a good thing. No matter who they are. But some people shouldn't have to stick with you, little sister. Some people are just bad people and while their death isn't something to be joyous over, it doesn't mean you have to be sad or torn up over it. The man you killed... he was a bad guy. You see it, don't you? The things he did... the things he wanted... I don't have to have seen him to know that. Sakura, he shouldn't stay with you. I promise you, it could have been someone a lot different."

Sakura shakes her head, burying her face into his shoulder. "How can it not stay with me..? I killed him. Bad guy or not..."

Hashirama kisses the top of Sakura's head before pulling away. "I have to lay down," Hashirama says softly, laying back down. His eyes droop close for a moment as he tries to regain his strength. It's obvious that while he's awake, he's not ready to be up and about just yet.

He takes a moment to collect his thoughts before opening his eyes again. "I didn't want to tell you about this, because I didn't want it to change the way you looked at me, but I think you need to know. My first kill... I was young, ten? Eleven, maybe? I had just unlocked my ability for woodstyle and had been practicing with it a lot, trying to master it. I took it to battle thinking that this would be the weapon I could use to finally end the war with the Uchiha. As far as I knew, there wasn't anyone else who was capable of using woodstyle.

"I thought that I would be able to save everyone. But I wasn't ready," Hashirama says softly, touching Sakura's cheek, his smile is thin and without mirth. "I'm lucky I didn't get myself killed trying to use a technique that I wasn't completely ready for. I managed to pin an Uchiha with my woodstyle and hold him in place. I'm not sure what his name was, but someone snuck up on me. I knew it in the back of my mind, I realized I was in danger. The moment I realized it, my woodstyle moved without me really thinking about it. It shot behind me, catching the person sneaking up on me."

Hashirama pauses, closing his eyes. It was obvious by the strained look on his face that he was seeing that moment behind his eyelids. There is a prominent line appearing between his eyebrows. Sakura glances over at Tobirama, who was sitting cross-legged with his arms folded across his chest with his eyes closed and a frown on his lips. He doesn't like this story.

Sakura looks over at Izuna and Madara with wide green eyes. Izuna's eyebrows are pulled together, but other than that his face is impassive whereas Madara is staring at Hashirama with intense dark eyes. It's hard to see what he's thinking. Is he angry that Hashirama is talking about the death of one of his clansmen? Is he interested in learning who it was? It's hard to tell.

Hashirama lets out a deep breath before pushing himself up to a sitting position. His posture is weak and he is heavily bowing over himself, but he shakes his head when Tobirama moved to help him. His smile is weak and forced before falling neutral and his eyes slide over to Sakura.

"The person who snuck up on me, my first, real kill was a child, younger than myself." His words are simple but weight hundreds of pounds. His eyes are dark and show an unfathomable amount of pain. Sakura gasps loudly, hands flying to her lips. It's one thing to just know that there was people dying in war - Sakura's lost cousins to the Uchiha - but it's another thing to hear about her brother killing someone. For the better part of the war since he became clan leader, Hashirama and Madara have been finding, and fighting, each other.

Sakura doesn't know what to think about what she's learned.

"He was probably eight years old," Hashirama says, voice thick with obvious grief. "When I saw him, when I realized what I had done..." he shakes his head. "I approached him slowly, thinking he was already dead. The branch had impaled him through the chest and to a tree. He wasn't moving and there was so much blood... I thought... but he wasn't..." Hashirama lets out a shaky sigh. "He was just in shock. I thought his head was bowed in death but he was actually just staring at the wound in his chest, unable to believe it.

"And when a twig snapped under my foot as I approached... he looked up at me." Hashirama's eyes fill with tears. "He started to cry when he saw me. Oh my Kami, I thought he was dead but he was still alive! He was suffering!" Hashirama brings a hand to his forehead. "That poor little boy just kept saying, 'please' over and over again and I didn't know what he wanted! Did he want me to end his suffering? I was the one who hurt him so bad! Did he want me to try and save him? I hadn't any medical abilities at the time, what could I do?"

Sakura stares at her big brother, seeing the pain and torment written on his face. He's tired and vulnerable and maybe in some ways this has been hanging over him for so long he's ready to get it off his shoulders, he ready for someone to finally punish him for killing a child. Her big brother is perhaps the kindest most pro-life person she has ever met. He doesn't like killing - he will, but he's not going to find any joy in it - but he is deeply against the death of children. Against any sort of cruelty to children. Hashirama believes that they are the future and should be loved and treated as such and the fact that the first person he killed was a child must have ruined him.

Sakura is brought back in time a few years to when she followed Hashirama into the woods after he told her to go home. She was almost hurt by his woodstyle and how he cried. How he couldn't let her go he was so broken up inside. He must have murdered the child not long before that and it was almost an instant replay but with his own little sister, it's not shock that he was so upset. Now Sakura understands.

"What did you do...?" Sakura asks softly, slowly lowering her hands a bit from her mouth.

Hashirama looks at her, defeated. "I stood there, holding that poor little boy's hand, until he was gone. I will keep that little boy with me in my heart for the rest of my life. He will stay with me, especially since I will never be able to look his mother in the eye and tell her I'm sorry. I will never be able to give his mother someone to directly blame for her son's death. I will never get to know the name of that poor little boy who didn't deserve to die." Tears trickle down Hashirama's cheeks as he lets out a shuttering breath.

After a moment he looks deep into Sakura's eyes. His sorrow is still there, but there is also a fire, an anger there. "That little boy didn't deserve to die. He did nothing wrong. If I hadn't been using a power I didn't understand, he would still be here today, I think. That man that you killed, he was a very bad man. He wanted to kill you, me, Tobirama, Izuna and Madara. He wanted to hurt many others too. You saw into his mind, if it's as bad as you say, that is a bad man who doesn't deserve to live. He doesn't get the chance to hurt another person. Send him from your mind and your heart, he doesn't deserve to be there. Not like that little boy. His death was a shame, a tragedy. That man's death was a form of blessing. Never, ever forget that."

Sakura nods slowly, not sure she can speak. Not sure she can trust her voice right now. That was a lot that Hashirama just kind of laid on all of them. Sakura felt a bit detached from all of this. She didn't see even a smidge of the true brutality of war like her brothers and husband did. She wasn't out on the field killing people and watching family die. It's one thing for their bodies to be returned or hear the stories of their death but it's another to really be part of it. To see it happen. To be the reason for other people to die.

Hashirama pats her on the head before looking over at Madara with a sad smile. "I'm sorry, brother. This isn't how I wanted to tell this to you."

Madara is staring at Hashirama with a frown on his lips. He stands up from where he has been sitting by the door the last two days, his knees cracking from staying in one place for so long, as he walks over to the window across the room. Everyone's head follows after him as Madara takes a moment to really stare out the window and think for a moment. He crosses his arms over his chest and stares out the window for a moment, trying to get his thoughts in order before walking back around Hashirama and Sakura, dropping to a knee next to Sakura.

Madara looks down into Sakura's wide, innocent green eyes and pats the top of her head for a moment before looking over at Hashirama. There is a moment of silence where the two clan leaders stare at one another. Hashirama's eyes are wide and sad, filled with obvious pain, while at the same time, he's tired. Tired from his chakra exhaustion, tired from holding this burden for over ten years, tired of just lying to his best friend. It's a horrible stigma that will keep hanging over their clans for many years to come.

Madara on the other hand, just stares into Hashirama's eyes. Even though he's tired and stressed out, his poker face is still strong. There is a lot of emotions dwelling in those pure black depths, but it's hard to tell if rage will somehow win over and he'll deck the weakened Hashirama while he can't defend himself. Sakura's not so sure that'll happen, but if it does, she knows Hashirama won't stop him, even if he could. Hashirama hates himself for killing a child, there's no way he would stop his best friend, who is also family of that child, from dishing out justice.

"I know who you're talking about," Madara says, his voice flat. "We found him, Hashirama. Do you want to know his name?"

Hashirama nods slowly. "Yes," he says softly.

"His name was Nao Uchiha," Madara says simply. "He was seven years old."

"Nao..." Hashirama says softly, eyebrows pulled together. "Nao." He's trying to commit the name to memory.

Madara stares at him for a long moment, studying his reaction closely. Hashirama doesn't seem to notice, he's too busy thinking about that little boy, putting a name to the face of the child that has been haunting his nightmares for so long now.

"And," Madara says simply, "he was my second to youngest brother."

Hashirama blinks once, twice, three times, not sure he heard Madara right, before horror splashes across his face and he look sup at Madara like the man just committed mass murder of all the children in the world right before him. Madara's expression didn't even change even in the slightest, he's more interested in watching Hashirama.

Sakura gasps again, eyes wide as saucers, while Tobirama is staring at Madara with wide eyes as well. His eyes flicker over to Hashirama, tensing up, ready to jump in between the two of them before the Uchiha clan leader can start beating the shit out of Hashirama. Because now he definitely won't stop Madara from hurting him now that he knows the truth.

"His mother did learn about his death," Madara says flatly. "She spent plenty of time crying over it."

Hashirama's eyes slide closed, obvious pain written across his face. "Oh dear Kami, I killed your little brother, Madara? Oh..." Hashirama moans in pain, putting a hand over his face.

Tobirama's eyes flicker to the only other Uchiha in the room. Izuna. But to his surprise, the boy hasn't moved. His body is completely still, eyes squeezed shut with a pained look on his face. But he doesn't move, doesn't speak. He just sits there with his eyes closed.

"Madara, Izuna," Hashirama says, looking at his best friend and brother-in-law, "I am so so sorry! I... I don't know what else to say..."

"Hashirama," Madara says evenly, still staring deep into Hashirama's sorrowful eyes. "I forgive you."

"I'm sorry-" Hashirama says, then pauses, "What?"

"It was an accident. You didn't mean to kill him. I know that. And he wasn't alone in the end. You could have left him there, but you didn't. So I forgive you. I know the truth now and you've apologized. I forgive you, brother. Now it's time for you to forgive yourself," Madara says flatly, reaching out to put a hand on Hashirama's shoulder. Needless to say, Tobirama and Sakura both stare at Madara in absolute shock. Izuna still doesn't move.

"B-But I...?" Hashirama tries to continue but Madara shakes his head.

"I forgive you. We are family now, brother. Your sister saved my brother's life. My family killed your two little brothers, yours killed mine. It's a sick and horrible fact of life, but who did it, doesn't change anything. I forgive you, Hashirama."

"Madara..." Hashirama says brokenly. "I... I..."

"Sleep," Madara says, standing up. "We all need rest. We can talk more about it later. Rest now." With that, he turns and leaves. Izuna stands up and follows after without a word. Sakura hesitates, looking between a slightly shocked, slightly mortified Hashirama and a surprised and suspicious Tobirama.

Sakura hugs Hashirama tight, kissing his cheek before doing the same for Tobirama. "I'll be back," Sakura says before running from the building after her husband and brother leaving a stunned Hashirama and curious Tobirama in her wake.

Madara and Izuna must have split ways because Sakura makes it home to find only Madara there, pulling off his dirty shirt and throwing it in a pile of dirty clothes for someone to clean later. Sakura stops in the doorway, staring at him, not knowing what to say. Should she apologize on Hashirama's behalf even though Madara basically said to forget it? Should she try and comfort her husband for the death of his little brother? Should she just give him space? Is Senju the last people he wants to see right now? Sakura didn't know.

"I'm sorry about your brother..." Sakura says softly, not knowing what else to do.

"It wasn't my brother," Madara says, shocking Sakura.

She looks up at him surprised. "What?"

Madara turns to her, pale chest glistening in the rising light. "Nao Uchiha is my little brother, but the boy Hashirama spoke of wasn't him. He was a boy in my clan I knew only in passing. By the time that boy died, he had no one. No mother or father. Mother taken by sickness, father by war, and no siblings. He was utterly alone. He went into war wanting to die. I heard him say so. He wasn't seven, he was ten. Still too young - and short - to have made such a choice but he did. I believe it was the wrong one but it was his own."

Sakura shakes her head in confusion. "But then, why would you say that..? A-About your brother...?"

Madara looks down at the ground, obviously unhappy about his own decision to do that. "Hashirama would have never stopped blaming himself if no one knew. If he wasn't forced to somehow pay for that. There is no one who would be able to accept that boy's genuine sadness like family. So Hashirama would live with that guilt forever and he's the type of person to let it ruin himself. He doesn't have to know the truth. No one will be able to make Hashirama feel better by knowing it. So I gave him what he needs right now, a moment to finally breath. He'll try his hardest to makeup for it - but later. He needs to rest now more than he ever has needed to. Give it to him."

Sakura nods slowly, in complete shock by his words. Madara said all of that for her brother. To make Hashirama feel better. To make him face his guilt and start to move on. Madara seems to always be like this. Always being kind to people even if they don't realize it. His face is stern but rarely has he ever been genuinely unkind. He's always trying to help someone or protect someone and Sakura loves it about him. After the things they've gone through, Sakura is exactly that he is her husband. That he is the one that she will be spending the rest of her life with.

Sakura knows now, without a shadow of a doubt, that not only will Madara love her because of their marriage, and treat her with care and affection as he has been, but he will also do so for her family as well. And that is a big part of her love. Sakura didn't think, not after that, she just ran into Madara's arms, burying her face into the center of his chest with her arms wrapped tightly around his bare waist. "Thank you, Madara," Sakura says. "Madara is the kindest. I truly, and deeply, love you."


	15. The Bastard who became King

Sakura cuddles close to Madara's warmth for a moment. Once she realized that he wasn't hugging her back, Sakura wondered if she said something wrong. She looks up at her husband, expected to see him glaring down at her or staring down at her with a displeased look on her face. But instead, she saw something that she didn't expect in her wildest dreams.

Madara's face was lit up the reddest red she has ever seen. It was redder than his sharingan. Not just his face, but also his ears are a bright red. He quickly brings a hand up to his face to cover the lower half as his dark eyes scan the room looking at anything but Sakura, obviously deeply embarrassed. Now Sakura understands his silence. Love came easily to Sakura. She loved her family, the Uchiha and Senju, and her brothers, all three of them, so loving her husband was a no-brainer. It didn't happen right away, but these last few months were just a precursor to this moment.

Madara isn't a very expressive person. He likes to keep to himself, keep his thoughts and emotions under wraps, so seeing him with such embarrassment and - dare she say - happiness on his face, Sakura knows she's doing something right. Or, at least, unexpected to him. And that's not really a bad thing, thankfully. In fact, it's kind of nice.

There is a tenseness is Sakura's stomach as an unfamiliar desire settles over her. She takes a moment to try and settle it, but it just gets stronger the longer she stares at her husband, who was still avoiding eye contact and looking around the room at everything but Sakura. His face is red. He's obviously embarrassed, but there is something... empowering about being the source of this powerful man's embarrassment.

Sakura smiles up at her husband before pulling completely away from him. "Thank you, Madara," Sakura says softly. "I'm going to go back to Hashirama-ani and Tobirama-ani. Is that okay?"

Madara nods, still avoiding her eyes, looking like he's going to pass out with all of the blood rushing to his face. Sakura looks up at him for a few moments longer before she smiles softly and turns away, heading out of the room and back to her brothers.

 

Despite the situation, it was nice being with her brothers again. Not that she didn't get to see them every day, whenever she wanted, but still. It was nice to be able to curl up at Hashirama's side once more. With Sakura there and having Hashirama already woken up once, Tobirama must have felt that it was safe enough to step away fro a moment to both freshen up and check on the status of the village. By the time he returned, Sakura was curled up at Hashirama's side, sleeping peacefully with her arms wrapped around his right one.

The next morning Sakura was shooed away by Lia to bathe Hashirama and try and give him something to eat. Sakura returned home to tend to herself. Once she was all cleaned up and presentable, she went to see someone she hadn't seen in a while.

"Hi, Koharu," Sakura says, stopping next to the long blond haired girl.

Koharu jumps at Sakura's sudden appearance, spinning around to see the slightly older girl, duo colored eyes blown wide. When her eyes lock with Sakura's, her face breaks out into a huge smile. She runs over to Sakura and throws her arms around the slightly taller girl, hugging her tighter. Sakura is confused by the girl's behavior but decides that it's not important. She's missed her new friend and is happy to see her again.

"Hi," Sakura says again.

"Hello!" Koharu says, stepping back a bit. She looks up at Sakura's hair for a moment, blinking a few times before smiling broadly again. "Wow! Your hair looks so nice! You decided to cut it?"

Not exactly her choice, but Sakura kind of liked the childish ignorance of her younger friend. Besides, Sakura wasn't looking forward to everyone judging her based on her short hair, as if it made her less lady-like with it short. While Sakura particularly liked her hair long, there wasn't much that she could do to stop her hair from being cut short. It's the only thing that she actually had control of.

Sakura offers a little smile.

"I'm so glad to see you," Koharu says, pulling Sakura into a tight, loving hug, before jumping back with a little frown on her lips. "I, um, heard whispering around the village..." Koharu hesitates, looking around as if someone was going to suddenly pip up and overhear them. She takes a step closer, "I heard that your older brother is sick right now. Is... is, um, he okay?"

She looks around with a nervous expression on her face.

"Yes," Sakura says. "You okay?"

Koharu tilts her head. "I'm not hurt. Oh, like how I'm doing here?" Sakura nods. "I'm good! So is my mom. She's all healed up and we're basically part of the village now. Everyone is so kind and there is talk of a school being built, or at least lessons starting up for the clanborn and Lord Hashirama and Lord Madara already said I could be in it too! Isn't that great?"

Sakura grins broadly. "Wonderful!"

"Yeah," Koharu says bashfully. "I'm super excited!"

Sakura and Koharu sit down in the grass and stare up at the blue sky, the clouds are puffy and plentiful. They spent the next hour and a half gazing up at the sky Koharu looks over at Sakura and says, softly, "Thank you again, Sakura, for bringing my mother and I to your village and allowing us to join it. Be the first to officially be welcomed into the alliance."

Sakura turns her head to look into Koharu's orange and purple eyes and offers a kind smile. "Family," Sakura says, reaching out and taking her hand, giving it a little squeeze before letting it go. "Your place is here, Koharu. Never forget that."

"Thank you," Koharu says softly, a blush darkening her pale cheeks. "Thank you for saying that."

Sakura grins at her. "You are welcome."

"So," Koharu says slowly, "I've been practicing with my chakra, and I'm getting better at it. I'm actually really excited about it. I can finally start paying the Senju and Uchiha back for saving me and my mom. And you too."

"There is nothing to pay back," Sakura says.

"I know you say that, and probably mean it too," Koharu says slowly, "but I want to. I want to be part of the community. There isn't exactly much my mother and I can attribute to the community really. I mean, mom has been working hard with the women, cooking and looking after the children and she's even helping out in the clinic, but if I become a shinobi of this village, recognized by the people, then I will finally be able to pay everyone back for their kindness and protection. I'm kind of excited for it!" Koharu grins broadly, her hands shaking at her side in palpable excitement.

Sakura smiles. "I'm glad to hear it, Koharu-chan. I know that you will be just fine."

 

Sakura slowly crawls into bed next to Madara later that night. It's rare for Madara to be in bed so early, although it is understandable considering that he has spent the better part of the last two days moving around or standing vigil while Hashirama was healing. Unlike usual, Madara doesn't move right away at Sakura crawling close. He does wake when she presses herself against his back, draping an arm across his stomach.

Madara turns his head a bit to look over at Sakura, as if just to make sure that she's Sakura and not some stranger trying to pull a fast one, before turning forward again and relaxing.

"Thank you," Sakura says softly.

Madara doesn't respond right away. "For what?" he asks, his voice rough from sleep.

"For Hashirama-ani and for letting Koharu into school. Thank you," Sakura says softly, pressing her forehead into the center of his warm back. The flesh there is smooth and unblemished.

"It's not a problem," Madara says softly.

Sakura pulls away from Madara and leans up on one hand, hovering over the older man. Madara rolls onto his back and looks up at Sakura for a moment. The moonlight filtering in through the window on his side of the room illuminates his pale skin, turns his dark hair and eyes a pale gray color. His long lashes cast a long shadow against his cheekbones. He's absolutely beautiful.

Sakura leans down slowly, pressing her lips lightly against his. She pulls back a bit and brings up her free hand and presses the pad of her thumb against his smooth cheek, running it up and down his cheekbone. She can feel Madara's hot breath on her face.

"Can I love my husband?" Sakura asks, blinking slowly.

Madara's black eyes study Sakura's face. "If you want to," Madara says softly, and that was exactly what Sakura wanted to hear.

Tears swell up into Sakura's eyes and she lowers her head to Madara's forehead. "All of my life I've wanted to love you," Sakura says softly, "but I didn't think it was possible. Is it really okay?"

A crease forms between his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Sakura shakes her head. She doesn't know what she means, she never knows. It's just gut feelings or words that sprout out from between her lips. There really isn't any thought process or control behind it. She's like an animal, acting purely on instinct without even a single thought to go with it. Sakura hates that about herself. She hates that she can't unlock the memories that lurk just beyond her reach. It's like she is racing down a long hall trying to catch up to her memories, but they are always three steps out of her reach at all times.

She can stumble and fall down, but the memories keep going; leaving her behind.

Even now, Sakura is doing things without thinking about it. She's being so bold about her love, because there is genuine love there, something about it just didn't feel right. Not about her love, really, but like the true depth of her love. Sakura's love for Madara isn't shallow. She values him and deeply appreciates him, and even loves him in her own way. It's young and fledgling, but she does love him.

But there is something odd about the love. Something deep in Sakura's soul calls out to Madara. In a way, since the moment she met him all of those years ago as a child, she has been silently calling out to him in her soul, it's only taken till now to realize it. There is something within her that she just can't explain that painfully yearns for Madara in a way she can't really understand.

Sakura lays down in his arms, burying her face in the crook of his neck, practically laying on top of him. Madara shifts a bit before settling down and wrapping his arms around Sakura as well. He brings up one of his hands and has his fingers intertwine with the soft, short pink locks. She can feel his short, blunt nails run across her scalp for a few moments before her slips back into slumber, thankfully not asking her about her strange behavior.

He's always been like that, hasn't he, Sakura couldn't help but wonder to herself. Even though there is so much about her that just doesn't add up, even Sakura knows that, yet Madara has held his tongue, allowing Sakura to explain herself or just watching and having faith in her. Sakura couldn't ask for a better person to be her life partner.

She could do a lot worse for a husband, but she couldn't do any better.

It feels like destiny. Since the beginning of time, they were meant to be with one another. Sakura was meant to be with Madara for all of eternity. She was meant to be his, and he was meant to be hers.

If Sakura didn't know anything else in the world, she at least knew that. Deep in her heart, Madara will always - and somehow has always - been.

 

"How do you feel?" Sakura asks, poking her head into Hashirama's room.

Hashirama is sitting up now. It's been a few days and Sakura has been keeping herself busy, trying to give her brother time to rest and heal without her hovering. It's what Tobirama's been doing. But just like Sakura, he too has returned to see how their older brother is doing, except, like always, he beat her to it and is already sitting by Hashirama's side.

She has spent that last few days kicking up her training. She's been going to the lessons with Koharu but also took Tobirama aside and joined him in his daily routines too. She's been saying it, and has been keeping up with it a hell of a lot more than she used to, but she really needs to keep training. She needs to get stronger and look after herself and her brothers. There can not be a repeat of what happened. There simply can not. Sakura will not allow it.

"Oh good," Hashirama says happily, smiling brightly. "My baby brother and sister have once again returned to my side! I must be the luckiest older brother in the entire world! I am thankful."

Sakura smiles brightly and steps into the room, closing the door behind her before running to the opposite side of Hashirama than Tobirama, sitting down neatly like her older brother. Sakura reaches out and takes Hashirama's hand, which seems to please the older man immensely.

"I would hold Tobirama's hand too," Hashirama says, flashing a happy grin toward his only blood sibling, to which Tobirama glares at him and then looks away in return, "but I'm afraid he'd hit me."

"I would," Tobirama growls, embarrassed.

Hashirama pouts and Sakura laughs. Sakura cocoons Hashirama's hand between her own and offers him a little smile.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Hashirama-ani."

Hashirama leans forward and lightly kisses her forehead. "Me too, Imouto. I'm glad that you and Tobi are here with me. I really do have the best little siblings in the world."

And friends, Sakura thought, thinking back to Madara. But she didn't say it aloud. Sakura figured that was something that should be dealt with between her brother and her husband. Sakura did plenty of meddling in her life but even there is some things that she will allow to play out as they may. Her husband chose to lie to her brother, which Sakura usually doesn't like, but this time it was for his sake. To help her eldest brother start healing from a wound that she did not know had been aching him for so long.

It just goes to show, even though they are her brothers, there is still much she doesn't know about them. There will always be more to learn. Sakura is happy for the prospect. Her brothers are very interesting people, and to learn that there is more to learn about them still, makes Sakura excited for the future.

Hashirama blinks tiredly, still looking a little pale and he's not allowed to leave his bed for another two days, Lia managed to get him to agree too, so until then, he'll keep relaxing. Tobirama, Madara and Izuna were looking after the village in his stead, holding out on the really important things until he's all better again, which is the entire reason Hashirama agreed to two more days. If they were doing more without him knowing, Hashirama's head might explode.

Hashirama is very serious about this village. He wants to oversee all of the important aspects to ensure that it is all running smoothly. Her brother was really anal about things like that. Sakura couldn't blame him. Tobirama and Madara were the exact same way.

Surprisingly, Izuna is the most relaxed of them all when it came to this. He had complete and utter faith in his brother and Sakura's and let them make arguing with one another, stepping in only to put in his two cents when he thought it would benefit them or when he was asked for it. Usually he would be there just to be part of the meetings so that he would be in the loop at all times and should they need his opinion, he would be right there.

Technically, he had the same power as Tobirama, being the Uchiha heir. The four of them were considered the council and made the rules even though Izuna was the most laid back of them all.

And for argument's sake, Sakura was in charge too, being the official fifth person, to break the tie, but she didn't really pay much attention to that. She knew her brothers and husband knew how to run things and had no doubt that they would do just fine without her input, but she would sit in on the meetings every once and awhile, but there has never been a need for Sakura to break the tie. Once other clans come, Sakura's position will probably disappear, but Sakura doesn't mind. She knows nothing about running a village.

Best leave it to people who do. Or at least are better equipped with the skills to do it than she. Sakura wouldn't want to be the reason that anything got messed with her brothers' and husband's dream.

"How do you feel?" Sakura asks again, realizing that she didn't actually get her answer the first time.

Hashirama shrugs his shoulders. "I'm still a bit tired," he admits, "but I'm ready to get up and move around again. You know me, I don't like being a bum for too long. I'd rather be doing things, but I know I need to rest." He offers a little half smile. "I'm going to be up at dawn in two days, I already told Aunt Lia, so it's no surprise."

"Just be careful," Sakura says softly, patting the back of his hand.

"I'll be fine!" Hashirama laughs. "I never thought the day would come, imouto, when you were the one telling me to be careful about my health! My, have the tables turned!"

Sakura smiles faintly. "Yeah..." Sakura hesitates a split second before leaning scooting closer and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. Thankfully, there wasn't a single moment of hesitation on Hashirama's side. He wraps his arms around her, holding her close and kissing her on the cheek in return, squeezing her tightly. Sakura is happy with the strength. Hashirama is getting stronger.

Sakura runs her fingers through his hair, he's bathed recently, he smells wonderful. Sakura squeezes her arms tighter, being sure not to choke him. Sakura feels Hashirama pull an arm away from around her and a moment later Tobirama's arm at around her shoulders. Sakura scoots back so that the three Senju siblings can all see one another. Hashirama presses his forehead against theirs. Sakura and Tobirama easily follow suite.

They close their eyes, all three of them, and spend the next couple of moments feeling one another. Their arms touch and their foreheads, but that's it. It was more the presence of each of them that touched. So close, they came, once again to losing a brother. Nothing could ever beat blood but Sakura has been with her brothers for eight years. It is impossible for them not to feel as though they are connected by blood, even if they aren't.

"I'm glad that you are alright, brother," Tobirama says, strangely enough being the one to break the silence, which doesn't usually happen.

Hashirama smiles. Sakura didn't see it, she felt it. "Thank you, brother," Hashirama says softly. "It was a little closer a call than I would have liked. We will just have to be more careful when we leave the village now, wouldn't we?"

"Agreed," Tobirama says. "We will not be caught off guard again. No matter what."

Hashirama hums. Sakura opens her eyes, both of her brothers' eyes are still closed. Sakura takes a moment to just look at them. Her two handsome, kind brothers. Sakura would be completely and utterly lost without them.

She is grateful for everything that her brothers have done for her, yet over the years Sakura is painfully aware that she has been more selfish than anything when dealing with her brothers, her family, and now her husband and new family. Sakura takes far more than she gives, and has been so fortunate that her brothers actually prefer to dot on her than anything.

All of that is going to change. Sakura is going to focus on doing what she must. She is a little sister of the Senju Clan leader and heir. She is the sister-in-law to the heir of the Uchiha clan and the wife of the Uchiha Clan Leader. She's not a little girl any more. She has been babied long enough. She really has to start thinking about the future. Two times in her life, Sakura has come very close to death. The first one, she doesn't recall, but the second... well, the second one is oh so very vivid in her mind.

"I love you," Sakura whispers, closing her eyes. "I love you, Hashirama-ani and Tobirama-ani. Thank you for being my brothers."

 

Sakura feels repulsed. She can feel his hands moving up and down her body. Sakura tries desperately to squirm away but no matter how far away she goes, his hands seem to follow. She can't seem to get away.

"Stop it!" Sakura yells, trying to shove the hands away. "Stop it! Don't touch me! Let me go! Let me go! Don't touch me! Madara! Madara!" Hands grab hold of her wrist tightly, not able to shake them, Sakura calls out desperately, "No! Stop! Please! Please! Madara!"

Hot breath on her ear and a soothing, soft, "You are safe, Sakura."

And just like that, the dark void that surrounded her and vile hands vanished into the darkness. Sakura opens her eyes to see Madara sitting on the bed in front of her. The top half of his kimono is removed with just his pants remaining. He still had his weapon pouch strapped to his leg. He must have just gotten in. It's dark out and the dim moonlight pours in through the window next to them, illuminating the room.

Sakura lunges at Madara, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, holding onto his tightly. Her heart is pounding in her flesh and she's sweating profusely, but she shivers, feeling ghostly touches of the vile man's hands on her body still. She presses closer, hoping the scorching heat of Madara's body will burn away the feeling.

"Madara, Madara," Sakura whispers into his shoulder, tangling one hand into his mass of hair. As usual, it is wild and untamed, but gives the impression of being coarse and tangled, but it is actually quite soft and her fingers slid into it easily.

"I am here, Sakura," Madara says softly. He leans up, shifting so that he can cross his legs under her before relaxing again. "That man can no longer hurt you. I promise."

Sakura believes him, and knows it to be true, but still wraps her legs tighter around him and presses her chest closer. She didn't want to separate just yet. She hadn't realized how much she missed his warmth until she had to go to sleep without it.

"Do you want to try and get more sleep?" Madara asks softly, placing one hand on her lower back and the other on her neck. His fingers lightly rubbing the thin skin there.

Sakura shakes her head. "No. I'll have nightmares."

Madara laughs a bit. "Everyone has nightmares, Sakura."

Sakura blinks a few times, her heart slowing down to a normal rhythm. "Even you?" She asks softly.

"Especially me," Madara says. Then hesitates. It's something that she physically felt. She could feel his breathing stop and an actual wall start building between them, even thought they were so close. Madara struggles with the instinct for a moment before the wall falls and he lets out a slow sigh.

"What do you have nightmares about?" Sakura asks softly, wondering if it was so private to him that he didn't want to answer. Or if he was embarrassed about admitting to having nightmares.

"I have nightmares about my family," Madara finally admits after a baited silence. "I am a bastard."

"No, you aren't," Sakura says, shaking her head. She pulls back to stare at him with a frown. "Madara is very kind."

Madara shakes his head. "No, not like that. I am a bastard. My mother, and Izuna's are not the same. I have Izuna and I had two other little brothers. All three of my brothers are full blooded siblings. I am a half sibling."

Sakura's eyes are blown wide. "No way!"

Madara nods. "Yes. My mother, or who I thought was my mother, but I suppose I should say Izuna's mother, was the Lady of the clan. But she had gotten sick after she married my father and it became hard for her to carry children to term. My father was growing old, therefore desperate, and so he sought out another to bare his child for him. My mother. She was closer to the main branch than Izuna's mother, so I'm told.

"They spent a few nights together with the intension of having a child. They did. Me. But my father didn't want my mother and so he took me and left. I suppose it was an agreement between them, but at some point during the pregnancy, my mother decided that she wanted to be in my life and my father didn't want that so he took me and banished her from the clan," Madara says.

Sakura gasps, the hand not tangled in his hair covers her mouth. "Oh, no..."

Madara frowns a bit but nods. "Yes, well, Izuna's mother knew I was not hers, but she loved me anyway. She would only separate from me for feedings, other than that, she was said to always have me with her. When she was finally pregnant with Izuna and birthed him, she held me in her lap with Izuna in my arms. She never loved me any less. She never blamed me for being born not of her womb.

"When I was ten years old, she sat me down and told me the truth. She told me that I was not her blood child but to never let me think she didn't love me. Even though she and I were not blood mother and son, I was always going to be her first born. She pitied my birth mother, offering to help persuade my father into letting me look for her, but I didn't want that. My mother was my mother. I was never going to disrespect her by looking for someone else. She was the one who cared for me and in a way... maybe I hated my birth mother," Madara admits softly, his voice laced with shame.

"Why?" Sakura asks, her voice barely heard in the quite room.

"She knew she was going to eventually get pregnant and she wanted to get rid of me. It was only afterword that she changed her mind, but the fact remains the same. And had to truly wanted me, she should have stopped at nothing to keep me with her, but she didn't. She accepted banishment and left. I don't want her, I don't need her. I had my mother. She loved me. She blamed my father for not being patient.

"As soon as Izuna was born, my father finally got his full blooded heir. There was no need for me any longer. My mother wouldn't allow it. I was the first born, I was to be clan leader. The only people that knew where I came from was my father, both mothers, and the elders. No one else knew. At least, not for certain, I think. But mother threated to tell the clan and then leave with Izuna and I and never return."

Madara lets out a little laugh, laced with fondness. "She had just given birth, she wasn't going anywhere. But my father loved her. He wasn't going to even accept her threatening to leave him. So he relented and I was his official heir. When he died, the clan became mine and those that knew that I was not technically legitiment have been dying off over the years." Madara lets out a little sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. "I hate my father. I hate that he was so cruel to my mother - Izuna's mother - as to sleep with the woman who birthed me. My mother was a kind and loving woman, she didn't deserve to be treated that way. She was so kind and loving to me when she didn't have to. I will always, and forever, be grateful to her."

Sakura offers a little smile at that. "Does Izuna know?"

Madara shrugs his shoulders. "I believe so. I have never spoken to him about it, but before she passed, I think mother told him. My other two little brothers had already died long before then. They were too young, though. They would not understand that I wasn't really their brother. She most likely didn't tell them."

"That's not true," Sakura says, the smile falling from her face. "You are too their brother. Their big brother." Madara opens his mouth, probably to protest when Sakura cut him off. "You are half their blood. You are more their brother than I am Hashirama-ani and Tobirama-ani's sister. But we are still siblings. They will always be my big brothers and I will always be their little sister. Blood changes nothing."

Madara's dark eyes shine in moonlight, glistening a bit before he blinks rapidly and it clears up. "This has been a great source of shame for me, for a long time. I've been afraid to tell anyone this. Not even Hashirama knows this. I'm not very..." he hesitates, "good at sharing about my life," Madara admits, blushing a bit. "But you are my wife. I feel that you should at least know the truth. So yes, I have nightmares. I have them all the time. I fear Izuna will one day leave me or my mother will regret ever accepting me as her son or that one day I will become like my father."

Sakura tilts her head to the side. "How so?"

Madara shakes his head. "I want to have children. Not because I need an heir to continue with my bloodline, but because..." he hesitates, blush intensifying. "I like kids. I like their laughter and their innocence. I like their purity. I want children not to train them to become powerful warriors as I and my brothers grew up dealing with, but because I wanted to share those moments I had with my mother. The moments where she would hold me in her arms and tell me she loved me, knowing full well, who I was, and always encouraging me to be my own man."

Madara's eyes glisten again, as if something had occurred to him. Something he hadn't thought about in a long time. He presses his forehead to Sakura's and closes his eyes, whispering, so softly Sakura had to strain her hearing just to catch the words, "When I became clan leader, mother was sick and dying, but she bestowed upon me the title, and cried. She held me in her arms, even though she was getting so weak, and she told me that she was so proud to be my mother. And so the bastard became king," Madara laughed mirthlessly, before pausing, giving himself a moment to really think before continuing, softly, "I... can never thank her enough for loving me."

Sakura could feel that. She could really feel that. It was in that moment that Sakura realized just how similar the two of them were. Their stories weren't really the same, but the way they think was. Sakura was forever in debt to her family, as Madara was to his. They were in the same boat, in a way. Sakura could really get that. It made her heart swell as the connection between them grew.

"Well," Madara says gruffly, embarrassed by his emotions. He leaned forward and dislodged Sakura's hands from around him, and then her legs before pulling the covers around her. "I think that's enough soul bearing for one night." He scoots off the bed and walks over to his pile of clothes, removing the last of his gear before swiftly changing into a different pair of pants to sleep in before crawling back into bed. "Go back to sleep now, alright?"

"But what about the nightmares?" Sakura asks softly, curling up at Madara's side.

"Just be brave and face them," Madara says softly, pushing a few strands of pink hair from her face. "I'll be by your side in all of them. If you feel like you are too scared to go on, I'll protect you."


	16. Celebrate

Sakura falls onto her back and lets out a long, loud groan. Her muscles are screaming at her in protest, her head is throbbing and she's a gross sweaty mess. Even though it's been a month since they returned from their meeting with the Daimyo and had their run-in with those strange men out in the forest with that seal that perked her brothers' and husband's interest once everything calmed down with Hashirama, Sakura has kept true to her promise she mad to herself.

Sakura has really been kicking up her training, not wanting to ever be put into the situation that she was put into again without having more ways of defending herself and her family. But Sakura knows that she still has a long way to go before she's even a shadow to the flame that her brothers are. That her husband is. She doesn't have any aspirations of being the most powerful shinobi in the world because, like always, she doesn't really care much for the shinobi life as a principal, but she knew it was a tool that she could utilize to protect herself and her family.

Sakura lifts her arm up slowly, waving it around and was happy to see that it didn't wave back as much as it used to. Her arms and legs are getting more and more toned over the weeks of training. It's kind of exciting in a way. Sakura is physically becoming more powerful than she's ever been and with this power she's going to be able to protect her family with this newfound strength.

Tobirama leans over her, looking down at Sakura with intense red eyes. "You did good today, Sakura. Take a break."

"Am I getting stronger?" Sakura asks, softly, offering a little smile.

Tobirama nods, offering a tiny smile. "You did good, Sakura. You are getting a lot stronger. I am very proud of you. Hashirama is too."

Sakura beams, happily. "Really? I'll keep working hard, Tobi, I promise!" Tobirama nods, petting the top of Sakura's sweaty head. He doesn't mind, in fact, if anything, he seems proud. Which Sakura can understand. Her brothers have wanted her to be able to protect herself for as long as she's been with them, but Hashirama babies her and when Sakura just stopped wanting to do it, he would allow it.

Even if Tobirama had always been fervently against Sakura's decision to stop training, he had no choice but to listen to his appeasing older brother and stubborn little sister and let her do as she liked. It seems that he is much happier now that she is taking her training a lot more seriously. Even though Sakura doesn't have any aspirations beyond what she's already mentioned, she can't deny the fact that the exercise does help improve her mood. Not that she was ever really in a bad mood, but she did notice that while she is in more pain than usual with aching muscles, she is happier.

It's taken a long time, perhaps too long, but now that Sakura's back in it, and has been since Hashirama was hurt almost three weeks ago, Sakura has been keeping strong, and plans to remain that way. She has no aspirations of becoming some godly shinobi, but she did at least want to be able to protect herself, her brothers and her husband.

At least to some degree.

Now she will be able to help protect them and their clans. At least a little bit. If Sakura could save her family just a little bit with this power, than she will endure many, many more tiring years of this training and harsher if need be.

"We appreciate all of your hard work so far, sister," Tobirama says, crouching down next to her head.

Sakura smiles. "Thank you, Tobi."

 

"Gentlemen," Hashirama says, smiling at the new clan leaders around the table. "It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am Hashirama Senju, leader of the Senju clan."

"I am Tobirama Senju, current heir of the Senju clan," Tobirama says, tipping his head slightly to the men around them.

"Madara Uchiha," Sakura's husband says smoothly, letting his large dark eyes slide from face to face. "I am the clan leader of the Uchiha clan."

"I am Izuna Uchiha," Izuna says, offering a little wave of his hand. "I am the current heir of the Uchiha clan, Madara's younger brother."

Sakura, who got odd looks for being at the meeting, because she was a woman and it wasn't something that was usually seen in a business meeting such as this, tips her head in a respectful bow. "Hello, my lords. I am Sakura Uchiha. I am the Lady of the Uchiha clan." She offers them a cute, innocent smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you all."

The lords tip their heads back, now understanding why she was there. They weren't going to ask about it before, but at least now it makes sense to them. She was the lady of one of the two clans in question. Sakura could understand their confusion. None of their wives were there, and none of Sakura's brothers were married, so it was odd that she was there, but no one said anything.

Sakura looks over at her husband to see him staring at the men down the table from him. There was a this look in his eye, as if daring someone to speak out against her being there. But no one did.

They knew she was the wife of Madara, but what no one disclosed was that she was also the little sister of Hashirama and Tobirama. Perhaps something like that doesn't really matter anymore. At least, not to other people. Her strongest connection now is to the Uchiha through her husband. The thought made her a little sad, but at the same time, it was also something that she should expect. She wasn't a Senju anymore. She was an Uchiha now. It isn't so bad to be associated with her new family.

So Sakura didn't say anything.

"Shall we get started?" Hashirama asks, grinning broadly at everyone around him.

Sakura admired her brother. She loved sitting a few feet away, watching as Hashirama spoke to the Sarutobi, Shimura and Akimichi clan leaders. Hashirama sat at the head of the table with Tobirama to his left, Madara to his right. To Madara's right was Izuna and then Sakura. Usually she would sit out of meetings with the exception of if she was bored or trying to hide from Lia, but she actually wanted to be here for this one.

She wanted to watch their new home grow and prosper. It was exciting being able to see it happen around her. Sakura catches Tobirama's eye and she smiles at him brightly, barely able to contain her enthusiasm and excitement. Tobirama smiles back faintly before his face falls neutral once more. Sakura and Tobirama both look over at Hashirama as he grins proudly at the three other clan leaders at the other end of the table.

"We really appreciate that you gentlemen have taken the time to speak to us about possibly joining our alliance and our village," Hashirama says smoothly, giving Madara a side-ways glance to see the dark haired man nod once. "We will be able to answer any questions you may have now." He looks back over at the three other clan leaders.

The door slides open behind the Akimichi clan leader who was the other side of the table from Hahsirama. Everyone turns to see Kikiyo standing in the doorway, looking a bit frazzled. She bows deeply, apologizing before making her way over to Madara, dropping down next to him to whisper into his ear.

"Izuna," Madara looks over at his little brother. "Go and handle that."

Izuna opens his mouth, moving to stand up, but Sakura grabs his arm, stopping him.

"It's okay," Sakura says, smiling at Madara. "Izuna should be here too. I'll go oversee it."

Madara blinks in surprise before nodding. "Very well, Sakura. Thank you. I will stand by whatever you decide."

"Thank you," Izuna says, blinking up at her when she stood up as he settles in place.

Sakura pats the top of his head, smiling kindly back at him before giving Madara a meaningful wink and nodding to Kikiyo to lead the way out. She turns to the other clan leaders and bows. "Thank you for allowing me to sit in, my lords. Happy meeting."

"Lady Uchiha," the three other lords tip their heads in respect. Sakura winks at her brothers before turning and leaving, shutting the doors behind her softly, taking Rei's offered hand to step down from the building, which is propped up high on one side to accommodate the uneven ground in which it was built upon. Sakura smiles up at him before slipping her shoes onto her feet and turns to Kikiyo.

"What's going on?"

Kikiyo hesitates for a moment, before nodding her head and making a gesture for Sakura to follow her toward the Uchiha side of the village. "Um, my lady? Are you sure you want to do this? Some of the men of our clan can be a little..." she hesitates.

"Mean?" Sakura asks, blinking innocently.

"Sexist, traditional," Kikiyo says, annoyed. She waves her hand around. It doesn't really matter, anyway. "Anyway, they may not be... as receptive to you as they would have been to Lord Izuna or Lord Madara..."

"Why?" Sakura asks.

"You're..." Kikiyo says slowly before sighing, turning to face Sakura. "My lady, may I speak bluntly?"

Sakura nods, not sure when the other girl stopped. "Yes."

Kikiyo looks around for a moment before looking down at the pink haired girl. "I can't say that I know how it works in the Senju clan, but in the Uchiha clan, it's a patriarchal clan. Women don't have much of a say here in our clan, so I just wanted to warn you before someone says something that they may or may not regret."

Sakura tilts her head slightly, taking a moment to really think about her friend's words. She could understand why Kikiyo was worried. While change was rearing it's ugly head, and people are always adverse to change, it still hasn't progressed far enough to were women were more than the child bearers. To where they were more than standing in the corner looking pretty. But Sakura thinks herself lucky. She's surrounded by men who are visionaries. Who want to change the way things are and improve it. Who's wanted her to be her very best since day one. Show the world who she really was.

Sakura smiles. "Madara has deferred to my judgment," Sakura says, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "If need be, I can just ask him to help me out. He'll tell them the same thing I am, just in a meaner voice."

Kikiyo grins back at her. "Okay." She waves her arm for Sakura to follow her. "This way, my lady."

Sakura follows her deep into the compound. It was almost comical to see two grown men, at least ten to fifteen years Sakura's senior, arguing pretty heatedly, getting into each other's face.

"What's going on?" Sakura asks, stopping in front of the two men. Both pause in their arguing. They look down at her as if she grew three more arms, an extra head and was speaking an entirely different language from them.

"Pardon us, my lady," one of the men says slowly, casting an angry glare the other man's way. "We are just having a disagreement."

"I understand," Sakura says, folding her hands neatly in front of her. "Madara asked me to handle it for him."

Both of the men stare at her as if the new form Sakura took on when she appeared before them, reached out and kissed both of them simultaneously. Sakura turns a bit to look at Kikiyo before shrugging her shoulders and looking back at them.

"I am sorry, my lady, I mean no disrespect, but I don't think this is something you'd understand. It's a... man thing," the second man says. Kikiyo rolls her eyes and lets out a low groan that Sakura just barely heard.

"Perhaps I can help," Sakura says. "Try me."

The two men frown at her, tossing an angry glare at one another before they start talking and honestly, they were right. Their problem did go over Sakura's head. It was something about tools and property lines and construction. Sakura honestly didn't know what their issue was, but she wasn't going to admit that, especially after trying to prove that she could be of some help.

"It is really that big of a deal?" Sakura asks, and immediately knew that was the wrong choice. Both of the men stared at her as if they had called it. She had asked the one question that would assure them that they were right in believing that she wasn't going to be able to help them resolve this issue.

"It's not," one of the men says flatly. "We can... handle this on our own, my lady. Thank you for your assistance."

"You cannot speak to the Lady like that," the other man says, glaring at the first one, reaching up and swiping some long dark brown hair from his eyes.

"I have a little story to tell you two," Sakura says, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to somehow get both of them back onto the right track. They glare at each other a moment longer before looking over at her. "My aunt Lia once told me about the stark difference between boys and girls. Say something happened, it doesn't really matter what, but something happened that drew the ire of two girls and two boys against the one of the same gender. Boy against boy and girl against girl."

Sakura rolls her shoulders back trying to recall exactly what her aunt said.

"In the girls' case they would spend days, weeks, even months stewing in their anger. They would watch one another, make nasty quips and even spread rumors in order to hurt one another before the confrontation, but the moment they really crossed one another's path, they would go after each other. Aunt Lia explained that there would be hair pulling, name calling, scratching, kicking, spitting. She said it could go down hill and fast. She said when trying to separate two girls, it would basically be like prying two melted statues, half dried away from one another. Difficult and messy."

Both men stare at her with wide eyes, as if neither understood where she was trying to go with this.

"In the boys' case it's a bit different. They may wait a bit of time before doing anything, but eventually they will just charge at one another like an angry set of bulls. There would be kicks and punches and maybe even name calling by my Aunt Lia assured me that there was a very simple way to separate boys than there was with girls." Sakura claps her hands loud and steps closer, making both men jump when she rose her voice until she was practically yelling at them. "Hey! Knock it off!" A pause, then calmer. "And they would usually stop."

There wasn't too many people around, but there was enough to turn and stare and make the two men uncomfortable.

Sakura looks at them for a moment, throat hurting from suddenly yelling, she swallows a bit to try and wet her whistle a bit. "If I yelled that at you, would you two stop fighting?"

"My... lady..." the one with the shorter hair says. "Just yelling is a little..."

"Unproductive?" Sakura asks. "Doesn't solve the problem at all? Kind of like arguing, yes?"

Both men stare at her.

"Madara said that he would agree with however I decide to handle the situation," Sakura says slowly, reaching up and tucking a loose strand of short pink hair behind her ear. "But I don't see this as being too much of a problem. I don't really understand it, admittedly, but you are family. There has to be a solution, a compromise, that you both can agree on. My husband is amazing, but very busy, he can't stop what he's doing to play mediator. This isn't something that should take up his time, don't the two of you think so?" Sakura looks between them.

"No," they both murmur.

Sakura smiles, patting both of them on the arms. "Good. I won't make a definitive decision one way or the other, simply because I feel there isn't a need to. If I'm wrong, please let me know, but if the two of you can figure this out calmly, then I don't see there being a reason for me to have to tell you what to do. Don't you? You're both grown men, and you're family." A pause, then, "I understand that the two of you were in the war against the Senju, yes?"

It was a little odd talking about her brother clan as if she was no longer part of it - even though technically she wasn't. They were still her family, it was just a little bit weird.

"Yes, ma'am," the short haired Uchiha says.

"Yes, my lady," the long haired Uchiha says.

"It must be a little difficult not going off to fight everyday," Sakura says. "Not that I agreed with the war or anything like that, but the exorcise that comes with it, improves your mood and works off stress. I think, maybe, the two of you should take a few hours to train, clear your minds, and then return to the discussion. Maybe then you will find a proper solution that will be fair to both of you. Agreed?"

Both men nod, bowing their heads low. "Yes, ma'am."

Sakura smiles. "Good. Please let me know if you need anything." She turns around, but pauses a few steps away to turn back toward the two men, who were staring at one another as if they didn't really know how to move forward. "My brothers make a good leading point that I can't ignore. My husband it too busy to be dealing with all of the little things, thankfully now he has Izuna and myself to help him, but from experience, if you make me choose how to handle this, I'm so sure that you're going to like it," she says once they turn to look at her.

She smiles. "Figure it out between the two of you, alright? If you can't come to an understanding, I will make a decision for you, okay? But I'm sure you wouldn't want that." She smiles knowingly at them. "Good luck, brothers."

They spare each other a look, the aggression sizzling between them vanishing completely as they both bow. "Thank you, my lady," the short haired man says.

"Sorry for taking your time, my lady," the long haired man says.

Sakura waves her hands. "Good luck!"

Sakura turns around again and walks toward her home, casting them a glance over her shoulder with a look that she hopes can't be misinterpreted. She does want them to figure this out themselves, merely because she believes that not everything needs to be overseen by the head of the clan. There should be some degree of self stability within the clan. Sakura's brother try to let the clan do what they can on their own. If it's something large enough that concerns the whole clan, then they jump in head long, but if not, they encourage clansmen to figure it out themselves.

If they just can't, then her brother's take over and always promise that the two - and sometimes more depending on the situation - parties involved won't like what they decide.

"That was amazing, my lady!" Kikiyo says, casting a look over her shoulder, black eyes wide. "Wow!"

Sakura lets out a little laugh. "That went well, huh?" She slips her arm through Kikiyo's. "What are you doing for the rest of the day?"

Kikiyo lets out a long winded sigh. "I have patrol today. It's going to take me out of the village. Man, I really hate the Land of Fire heat."

Sakura laughs. "It only gets worse!"

Kikiyo groans. "Don't I know it. I'm the type of girl who prefers the cold over the hot anyhow. What I wouldn't give for winter to just be here already." She throws her head back, shaking around her pretty dark hair.

"It's coming," Sakura says softly, resting her head onto Kikiyo's shoulder. "I'm not a fan of the cold, but the first snow fall is always beautiful."

Kikiyo hums in agreement. They walk together slowly toward her house for a few minutes, just enjoying the life that revolves around them. Sakura just loved this village. She loved the life and the peace and the serenity. It wasn't perfect and her home was still growing, but she was grateful to be able to be part of it. All she can do now and support her brothers and her husband and basically be at their beck and call, hoping to help smooth out the bumps of the day so that they can all move forward together.

They stop outside of Sakura's home and the two girls turn to each other.

"Be safe," Sakura says, pulling the taller girl to her.

Kikiyo squeezes her tightly. "Thank you, Sakura-sama. I'll catch you later!" She pulls back, grins broadly, before turning around and running off.

Sakura waves after her, watching her friend's retreating form until she could no longer see her before a desire settled over Sakura that she only has every once in a blue moon, but couldn't help herself. A big smile crosses her lips. She was going to do something nice for Madara, especially after he opened up to her yesterday about his own childhood and where he came from. He didn't have to do that, Sakura would never have been the wiser. She couldn't honestly tell that Madara and Izuna weren't full blood brothers.

But he did. He told her about himself. He trusted her enough to tell her his secret, so she should do something to show her appreciation for his honesty and trust. She's going to make him dinner.

 

Tonight was a night to celebrate. Sakura's and Madara's brothers all came over to dinner that night. The Shimura, Akimichi and Yamanaka clans agreed to the alliance and would be moving their clans into the tiny village within the next few weeks. It was like all of their hard work was starting to pay off. All the pain and suffering both clans had to go through is now starting to be worth it.

They all sat around the dinner table, her brothers having brought over some celebratory alcohol to split between them. Sakura wasn't a drinker, and only had a few sips before with her brothers, but this was her first glass all for herself. She didn't much like the taste of alcohol itself, but was fine with them so long as it was mostly covered up. But this was just regular sake, so she was probably going to be taking care of everyone tonight.

She doesn't mind, though. She's happy that they are all so happy.

Madara is the first to take a bite. He chews for a moment, looking around for a moment before swallowing with a bit of difficulty. His eyes slide over to Sakura, as he tries to find the words. "It's... not bad."

Sakura beams. "Thank you!"

"What?" Hashirama asks as Tobirama pours him a cup. "Did Sakura make this?"

Sakura nods, happily. Hashirama and Tobirama both share horrified looks, quickly kicking back their cups and pouring another. Sakura frowns, staring at her brothers reactions, just like Madara and Izuna were.

Tobirama pours another and passes it to Izuna. "You'll need to kill your taste buds before eating." Izuna takes the cup, perplexed.

Madara raises an eyebrow. "I didn't think it was that bad."

Hashirama reaches out and puts his hand on Madara's shoulder, looking at him with great sympathy. "I had heard that fire ninjutsu is capable of burning away taste buds, but it hasn't happened to me yet, so I didn't think that it was true. I see it is now." He shakes his head slowly. "I'm sorry."

Madara glares at him. "I don't have burnt taste buds."

"Fine, bad taste, whatever," Hashirama says, dismissively. "Either way, I am so sorry, brother. I'm sorry there wasn't more I could do for you."

"Shut up, Hashirama," Madara snaps.

Izuna looks down at his food hesitantly, then over to Tobirama, who's sipping at his drink, giving him a look. Izuna takes a slow bite, chewing for a moment before freezing and swallowing with difficulties before polishing off his cup of sake and holding it out to Tobirama to fill up.

"I wasn't all that hungry anyway," Hashirama says, taking another swig of his drink.

Sakura pouts. "Hashirama-ani! Tobirama-ani!"

"That wasn't horrible," Izuna says, then shrinks under Madara's glare. "I mean, it's edible." He flinches as the glare intensified. "I..." he realized he couldn't scrounge together his thoughts in a way that wouldn't draw further ire from his older brother, and let his dark eyes lower to his sister-in-law, staring into her bright green eyes blinking innocently up at him. "I... love it."

Sakura smiles. "Really?"

"I'll miss you, Izuna," Tobirama says, taking a sip of his drink.

Izuna looks over at him with wide eyes. "Shut up, Tobirama."

Hashirama is pouring his fourth drink before taking a bite, slowly. His brown eyes are narrow as he chews for a moment before he smiles at Sakura. "I can't taste a thing. Thank you for the meal, imouto!"

"You're welcome!" Sakura says, taking a bite of her own meal. Madara glares around the table, before shaking his head and taking another bite, chewing slowly and swallowing with less difficulty now than before. Sakura knows she's not a good cook and maybe it was presumptuous of her to think that by her making a meal, it would somehow celebrate their new alliances and to thank her husband for his trust. She wasn't a very good cook but she just wanted to do something herself. Her brothers weren't lying when they said that it require either no taste whatsoever or a lot of dead taste buds.

Madara was kind in saying that it wasn't that bad, and maybe he did have a bit of bad taste, because Sakura knew that she did. She thought her food tasted fine. It wasn't the best thing she's ever eaten but it certainly wasn't the worst like her brothers seem to think that it is. Either way, she's glad that Madara was enjoying it to a degree, or was at least nice enough to fake it.

"Congratulations," Sakura says, holding up her cup, "on growing the alliance!"

Despite the joking and somewhat rude nature of the atmosphere around them, everything turns serious. They all raise their glasses too - after Tobirama fills his up for a third time - and clink them all together.

"To the future of our village!" Izuna says, grinning broadly.

"Here, here!" Hashirama agrees, leaning forward a bit to clink his cup against Izuna's.

"Let's eat!" Sakura calls out. "Itadakimatsu!"

Izuna, Hashirama and Tobirama flinch, Madara glares at them and Sakura just smiles.

 

"... and even though he came to see her on her final days, the Priestess did not shed a tear or speak words of love to the Prince. She merely bid him farewell, good health and a strong hope for a long and fruitful life in the beautiful world that would be left behind in her death," Sakura read softly, book propped in one had while the other was running through Madara's hair, her nails scrapping lightly against his scalp.

"In the dawn of the new day, the Priestess absorbed the evil into her body and disappeared from the world, taking it with her, linking it's life to her own before vanishing," Sakura continues, pausing in petting down Madara's silky soft hair to turn the page.

"Many tears were shed the day the evil vanished, but none so strongly as the people who beloved the Priestess. She took the darkness into herself, like a mother to her child, and cradled it to her chest before she disappeared into starlight. The Priestess called peace and left it in her wake. The sky turned red into the new day as light returned to the world. The end." Sakura closes the book and looks down at Madara.

He drank a lot at dinner, but that was hours ago. He's considerably sober now due to his metabolism as both a young man and as a shinobi. He pushes his dark fringe away from his face and turns from his side to his back to look up at Sakura.

"You like the story?" He asks.

Sakura nods. "I do. It was really smart of your mother to write this down, considering it's been passed down through generations on her side of the family."

Madara hums softly in agreement. "I think a part of it had to do with her being one of the few women in her family that was taught to write, but yes. I do agree. Even though I'm sure it's been changed up a bit over time, I do hope that most of it remained the same as when it was first told."

Sakura runs her fingers through his hair again as they sit on their bed. "I hope so too. I really like the story."

"Thank you for cooking us dinner tonight," Madara says after a long silence.

Sakura laughs. "You're welcome." Over her laughter, she can hear Hashirama's drunken snoring in the next room where her brothers and Madara's were sleeping off the sake.

Madara doesn't join her. He just waits for her to stop before saying again, "Thank you. I appreciate it. I haven't had a home cooked meal in my own home since I was a boy. My mother used to cook before she got sick, then she couldn't really do much else, but it tasted pretty similar. Izuna doesn't remember, I'm sure. She was sick pretty much his entire young life. She wasn't a great cook, but one thing I do remember is that she always tried her best. And even though my father is everything I don't want to be, he always ate her cooking."

Sakura stares at him for a long moment, running her thin fingers through his long, dark black hair. "That is love," Sakura says.

Madara doesn't respond, he just stares at Sakura, as if there was no need for words. And while Sakura originally begged to differ, seeing as she needed a lot of words said to her for her to understand things, she realized that, once she thought about it, he was right. He didn't really need to say anything, because she already figured it out.

Sakura gets butterflies in her belly, and she smiles brightly down at her husband. She leans down and kisses his lips, caressing his face with the pads of her fingers, them being significantly rougher now than they were when Sakura and Madara first married. He didn't seem to mind though. Sakura kisses him again before pulling back.

"I love you too," she says.

Madara sits up and turns to look at her, dark hair settling over his eye. He leans forward and kisses her, lips soft and warm with a bit of the bitter taste of alcohol remaining on his breath. Sakura took maybe three sips of her drink before offering it to her alcoholic older brother and making herself some tea - something she could actually make without screwing it up.

Madara pushes closer, still kissing her gently, his fingers intertwining with her hair as her back somehow hits the bed beneath her. He shifts a bit and pushes the discarded book aside before settling over her, pressing the length of his body against her, making her feel like she was on fire, his from the heat of his skin. Sakura's right hand is tangled between the fingers on Madara's left while her left is pressed against the straining muscles of his abdomen as he holds himself over her, letting her feel his weight but not carry it.

Sakura shouldn't be drunk. She didn't even drink all that much, yet it felt like her brain was mush. It was sudden, she wasn't sure how she should feel. He was her husband, so it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. It was just... getting really hard to focus on anything other than the fact that Madara's lips left her own and moved on to her neck, sucking and biting softly at it.

Her head falls to the side, revealing more of it to him. Her eyes lock onto the fire of the candle she used to be able to read the book in the late, dark night. It's dance hypnotized her and made her keenly aware of how Madara's hand left hers and slid to her thigh, pushing it apart for his own hips to settle into place. Sakura's heart leaps against her breast plate, warning her that that was the only reason it didn't fly out of her body and into Madara's. Her breath is ragged and sporadic. She didn't know where to look or touch or what to even say.

If she could even muster up enough brain power to form words at all.

A loud thump from the next room makes Sakura and Madara jump, Madara throwing himself off the bed and onto his feet, staring at the door with red eyes, his entire poster is leathal, ready to kill the moment someone walks through that door.

The sound of hysterical laughing. It's Hashirama's.

"Are you alright, Tobi?" He asks, voice muffled by the door. Something is said. Then more laughing. This time Izuna is also laughing.

Madara's coiled muscles start to loosen as he lets out an frustrated and annoyed sigh. "I think there shall be no more drinking in this house," Madara mutters before looking over at Sakura, who was half sitting up with her legs now clamped together and tucked under her, ready to fight or flee, she didn't know which.

Her green eyes turn to him and she smiles dizzily. "Are you okay..?" She asks, sitting back down.

Madara looks annoyed. "I'm going to kill them," he mutters, running a hand through his hair.

Sakura tilts her head. "What?"

"I said..." Madara hesitates for a moment before grabbing his shirt and pulling it on. "I said, I'm going to go for a walk to cool off, you get some rest." With that, he's gone, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Hi Madara!" Hashirama and Izuna call drunkenly from the next room.

"Oh shut up!" Madara snaps before the house falls silent, aside from drunken laughter, of course.

Sakura looks around her dim room for a moment, really letting herself think about what just happened. Or what almost happened. Or... well, what almost kind of happened.

Her face lights up and she dives under the covers. At any other time, Sakura would be sure to thank her brothers for their perfect timing, but Sakura was beginning to feel an itch or regret probing at the back of her mind. She was starting to wonder if she was thankful, or disappointed by their guests' presence.


	17. Deal

Madara kicked his brother, and Sakura's, out of the house at the crack of dawn the next day. He didn't come to bed until an hour or two after Sakura fell sleep. He was obviously annoyed with something - as if Sakura didn't know - and returned home after his walk to her giggling eldest brother and his giggling younger brother, yelling at them to be quiet before finally crawling into bed with her. That was the first night he slept with his back to her.

Sakura didn't much like that and turned in her sleep, pressing up tight against his scarred, but soft skinned back, pushing her nose up against his vertebrae and hot skin before going back to sleep. At some point from then to when she woke up to his getting up to kick their guests out of their house, he had turned back to her, letting her snuggle up to his chest once more, like nothing had happened the night before.

When dawn came, Madara got out of bed and kicked their guests out before coming back to bed. Sakura was groggy and didn't really wake up to Madara leaving their room, but moreso when he returned and pulled her onto his chest to sleep in his arms. She woke at the motion, but easily went back to sleep, feeling warm and safe with the man that she loves.

A few hours later, once Madara managed to crawl out of bed with a hang over, Tobirama stopped by - also hung over - demanding that they go out to spare. After a few minutes of arguing, because Madara didn't want to spar he wasn't feeling well, but eventually relented and left. Sakura stood by the table, staring at them curiously, wondering as to why Tobirama was so insistent on sparring.

Tobirama's eyes flickered up to her at one moment, squinted as if he was trying to see something before he frowned, shook his head and then didn't stop pestering her husband until he gave in. Sakura didn't say anything until they were gone. She just kind of stood there, blinking slowly. What could be up with her brother? It's curious.

 

Sakura found immense satisfaction and a sense of belonging, the more she stole duties from Madara and Izuna while they worked on forging alliances and building up their home. She liked that she was able to help her husband and brothers by being the person that everyone went to for guidance while their leaders were all cooped up in a small room together discussing one thing or the other in regards to the village.

Sakura's eldest brother came up with the best idea of the leadership role. A Kage. A Kage for the Land of Fire. A fire shadow. A Hokage. And with the Hokage, comes the village that they must protect; Konohagakure no Sato.

Madara came up with that one.

Hashirama was hypocritical of it, thinking that it's a silly name, but Madara only retorted that no one was coming up with anything better, so all four brothers agreed on the name. It would just have to grow on them all. Sakura, of course, actually liked the name and thought that it was very befitting for them. Hashirama attributed it to her horrible taste in many different areas - he was even daring enough to say men which drew Madara's, and Tobirama's strangely enough, ire - but it was settled.

Their village was Konohagakure and their leader would be the Hokage. They would hold elections, make it the people's choice, on who will be the official leader once the village is finally on it's feet.

Sakura enjoys the duties and responsibilities of running a clan. She likes the feeling of taking care of the day to day life. When her husband comes home and she is able to tell him that the day went smoothly and that all was well with the clan and that he just needed to relax after a long day, she felt like her own form of a hero. Sakura is starting to like the mundane days when nothing overly important happens, yet she and Madara sit down at the table and talk about their days.

Madara would talk about his meetings with Tobirama, Hashirama, Izuna and whomever was part of this one and that one. On his off days, he would talk about training with Izuna or other clan members, or her brothers. He would talk about new jutsu that he was formulating - something he enjoyed doing in his pastime, something that he shared with Tobirama - and training his hawk, Takashiro.

Takashiro was a late wedding present from Izuna to Madara. Apparently, as a child, Madara used to train hawks but was unable to focus much on them once he was old enough to go to war and ended up setting all of his hawks free since he wouldn't be able to offer them the attention they deserved. Since they were all settling again, Izuna felt that now was a good time for Madara to start up again.

Madara agreed.

Takashiro has beautiful white brown feathers on the edges of his wings and a large strip down his back - hence the name - and Madara has been carefully grooming him the last few weeks, trying to train the young bird. He has a cage in the back of the house for Takashiro - the cage was constructed by Hashirama - so that Madara could go in there and train Takashiro without fear of him flying away.

They were settling into a routine, which Sakura is okay with.

Sakura's training with Tobirama continues too. He seems proud to have proclaimed himself her sensei in this regard, and while he's a slave driver at times, Sakura is kind of glad about it, if it was Hashirama who was teaching her, he may have relented and had the training stop. Tobirama was born without a heart so he was able to listen to her whine and cry and not relent even the slightest.

As much as she hated to be pushed so far sometimes, and would really beg Tobirama to let them be done for the day, nothing ever beats out against the small smile of pride and the pat on the top of the head as soon as she begrudgingly finished whatever insane thing that he wanted her to do - whether she completed it to his specifications or not.

It hurts while it happens, and a bit after, but it is worth it in the end.

It's one of those times, after a particularly painful days where it was about the physical exorcise. It was so brutal today, Sakura's entire body is throbbing in pain as she lays in the grass. The heat beating down on her was like adding insult to injury but she's too tired to try and wiggle her way over to the shade. She was suppose to be training with Tobirama, today, but he said that something came up and that training was to be canceled. Sakura figured it wouldn't be too bad to do a bit of training on her own, maybe impress Tobirama and earn herself a pat on the head, but maybe she went a little too far.

Sakura lets out a long winded yawn. She takes a moment to stretch out her entire body as far as it can go before relaxing again. Sakura has been pushing herself harder and harder in her training. Today is a particularly hot day and Sakura's getting dizzy.

"Lady Sakura!" Momo calls, pulling Sakura from her day dreaming.

Sakura opens her mouth to speak, but she's too hot, and dizzy, maybe she pushed herself too hard toady. She brings her arm up above her head and waves it around a bit so that Momo is able to see her. She does, and makes her way over to the exhausted pink haired girl.

"What are you doing out here, my lady?" Momo asks, eyes wide. "You need to get ready for the meeting with the Uzumaki! You are going to be late!"

Sakura blinks a few times, not sure if she understands before the words register. Sakura jumps to her feet. "Oh, shit!" She gasps before running back to the village. She knew she was forgetting something. This was the reason that training was canceled! Of course! The meeting with the Uzumaki was big. They were hopefully going to be picking up the tab on building the village. The Uzumaki were a very rich clan and a longtime ally and cousin clan to the Senju for a long time. They didn't want to take part in the war against the Uchiha, but they showed interest in becoming financial backers for their village.

For Konoha.

They needed to make a good impression of the two clans. But in order to do that, they needed Sakura to be there. The Uzumaki were a matriarchal clan, as opposed to the usual patriarchal clans like the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuuga and so many more. But the Uzumaki were considered the most powerful of the clans, but their isolationist point of view kept them away from the rest of the world.

They needed a strong Lady there at their side to help show that it wasn't a bunch of men. Since Sakura was the only one, her brothers and husband basically begged her to be there and on her best behavior, she was representing them. If she was late, or not there at all, it may ruin their chances of getting the treaty signed at all and the funding for their village.

Sakura forgot all about it.

Momo runs after her, the slightly shorter girl, who had no shinobi training, struggles to keep up with her.

Izuna and Madara might be flustered, Hashirama might be upset, but Tobirama was definitely going to kill her.

 

Sakura ran into her home, where Lia, Koharu another Uchiha that Sakura recognized but didn't know the name of, and Kikiyo were waiting for her. Together, the women got her all ready to go in record time. Sakura was pulled in all different directions. A bucket of water was thrown over her and she was scrubbed down roughly before her hair was done up, as much as it could be in consideration to it's length and a bunch of flower were weaved into it in order to try and hide how short it was, and she was put into really heavy, very hot kimono and then sent away to rush to the edge of the village where her brothers were waiting for her, impatiently.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura says, as soon as she gets close. Kikiyo, Lia, Momo and Koharu following closely behind her, all in various stages of breathlessness.

Sakura stops right in front of them, doubling over from the painful stitch in her side and her erratically beating heart. She's exhausted. She hasn't really gotten over the pain from training earlier.

"Are you alright?" Izuna asks, black eyes wide.

Sakura waves her hand around dismissively. "I am just... out of breath." She straightens up, even though she doesn't have the strength to, she pushes through it. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was training this morning," she says, breathlessly.

"It's okay," Hashirama says, holding his hands up, shooting Tobirama a look that told him to ease up on his annoyed look. "Thankfully the Uzumaki aren't here yet. No harm, no foul."

"Be more careful, Sakura," Tobirama says. "This is very important."

Sakura nods briskly. "I'm sorry, Tobi."

Hashirama settles a hand onto Tobirama's shoulder, offering a little smile to Sakura. "It's fine. You're here now and the Uzumaki are not. Come now, Tobirama, there is no need to get so upset about nothing." Tobirama relents, backing off, but not without shooting Sakura a warning look to let her know that he was still unhappy about her being late.

Sakura offers a little smile to apologize. Tobirama finally sighs, shaking his head before giving in and letting Sakura off the hook. Patiently, Sakura, her brothers, her husband and a few of the women of all of the clans, the clan leaders of all the clans and a few elders from each of them all stand around quietly murmuring amongst themselves, waiting for the Uzumaki entourage to enter into sight. No one dares speak above a whisper, too anxious to be able to forge an alliance with the Uzumaki.

Thankfully no one but her brothers and husband will have to be able to speak to them. So no one will be able to mess it up for her husband and her brothers' village that they are working so hard for. It's another thirty minutes before the Uzumaki entourage comes into view. It was by that time that Sakura is swaying like crazy from exhaustion and the unbearable sun beating down on her.

Sakura feels someone's arm wrap around her shoulders. She looks up, blinking quickly to see Hashirama staring down at her with keen brown eyes. He puts the palm of the hand of the arm around her shoulders onto her forehead, sending in cool, soothing healing chakra into her. Sakura's eyes slide close in relief as she leans against her eldest brother, starting to feel better.

"You have been working real hard, imouto," Hashirama says softly, proudly. "Just relax a bit and cool down. I'm sorry I didn't notice before."

Sakura hums, leaning heavily against Hashirama, wrapping her arms around his waist. She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to absorb a bit of the strength that feels like it's always permeating from him and into herself for just a little bit. Something to help settle her nerves a but and to make sure she doesn't somehow mess this entire meeting up for her family.

She will never be able to forgive herself.

She's been feeling bad for a while - and it's probably the heat - so now that Hashirama is healing her, she's starting to feel better. She gives Hashirama's waist a little squeeze in appreciation. Hashirama kisses her forehead between his fingers, not seeming to mind the small beads of sweat working up on her brow.

As the Uzumaki draw closer, everyone's backs become more and more ramrod straight. Sakura can practically feel the nerves of everyone around her - or perhaps she's just too keenly aware of her own - and takes a few, deep breaths to try and relax herself, knowing that since she is the only Lady there, she was going to have to represent her people. Since the Uzumaki is a matriarchal clan, they are going to be looking for someone who is strong and sure and holds the love and respect of her people.

Sakura runs her hands up and down her thighs a bit, nervously, as Hashirama pulls his hand back.

The entourage is filled with men and woman all dressed up in long, beautiful clothes with the pretties bright red hair - like Madara's sharingan - and eyes of various shades of red, blue and purple. They were all so regal looking. They are a cousin clan of the Senju, and Sakura knows that Hashirama has met the clan leader before, but Sakura has never seen an Uzumaki before this moment. There is something about them that is just... kind of amazing. Sakura knew that both of her families - Uchiha and Senju - are two powerful, regal clans, but somehow the Uzumaki makes them look like they are a bunch of cave dwellers that couldn't hold a descent conversation or common courtesy to save their lives.

One woman, above all others, was by far the most beautiful. She walks through the group as if she's floating, with her long red hair pulled up into a series of intricate knots on the top of her head. Her kimono is by far the most intricate and beautiful with her face, hair, fingers and ears all decorated with gems and rings of all shapes and sizes, belying her royalty.

All of the Uzumaki bow as she passes them and walks right up to Hashirama and cups his face with her hands, staring up into his brown eyes with large crimson red eyes, an eloquent smile crossing her face as she pats his cheeks.

"Hashirama," she says, her voice somewhat rough, but charming.

Hashirama tilts his head a bit in a bow. "Lady Miyaya."

Her smile broadens a bit. "Handsome boy. Last I saw you, you were just a little boy. Look at you, all grown up and so handsome!" She laughs at Hahsirama's quirky grin. Her red eyes flicker over to Tobirama. "Ah, baby Tobi, last I saw you, you were just a few days old. Now look at you? A splitting image of your mother. You got the eyes of the Uzumaki in you, boy."

Sakura's eyes widen in surprise. Yes, if she recalled, her mom, Dallia is half Uzumaki. Or was it a fourth? She didn't really remember. But it was somewhere in the main bloodline of the Uzumaki, which is where Dallia's red eyes come from. And Tobirama's. Yes, now Sakura is starting to remember. When Sakura learned about the meeting with the Uzumaki, her aunt Lia mentioned something about her mother having been a part Uzumaki, which was the reason for her marriage with Butsuma.

Sakura can't believe that she forgot about that! Man, she is really out of it today.

Tobirama bows his head low. "Thank you, my lady. We appreciate you being here today."

Miyaya smiles, reaching out to pat his cheek a bit before her eyes lock onto Madara and Izuna. She looks between the two of them in careful contemplation before her eyes settle on Madara and she steps up to him. "You are Madara Uchiha," she says simply.

Madara nods, bowing his head a bit. "Yes, my lady. I am the leader of the Uchiha clan."

Miyaya seems to consider something for a moment. "You married my sister in the Senju clan."

Madara hesitates for a moment before nodding, seeing as it is pointless to say otherwise. It's not true. "Yes, Sakura is my wife."

Taking that as her cue, Sakura steps up next to Madara and smiles up at the beautiful, tall woman. She bows respectfully. "Greetings, Lady Miyaya. I am Sakura Uchiha, Lady of the Uchiha clan."

Miyaya's red eyes study her, critically for a moment, taking in every small detail of the pink haired girl. Sakura is suddenly deeply self conscious of all of her flaws that didn't really matter to her before. She's not nearly as tall as the other woman or as well made up as the woman in front of her. Sakura felt kind of shlumpy next to this beautiful woman. She wasn't even sure she was wearing any make-up. She probably is, and she knows that it's not a lot because she doesn't have the face for a lot of make-up so she must be easily overshadowed by this beautiful woman in front of her.

Sakura's face is definitely not as thin and defined as the Uzumaki clan leader's. She's still a teenager and there is a horrible amount of baby fat still on her face and now Sakura wants to scream. What was once one of her greatest weapons against her weak willed eldest brother, is turning out to be her downfall. Today really isn't her day.

Sakura has to physically hold herself ramrod straight so that she doesn't shift her weight from one foot to the other in nervousness. She's not going to be the one that gives her the wrong impression about Konoha. She's not!

Finally, after what feels like forever, Miyaya smiles and says, "It's nice to meet you, Sakura. Dallia used to write me about you. She was so happy to finally have a little girl. She adored her boys like none other, but there is something about having a little girl, I suppose." She smiles.

"Do you have any children, my lady?" Sakura asks.

Miyaya smiles. "No. But I have seven younger sisters, so while I understand the wonders of taking care of little girls is worth it, I've had my fill. If I have any children, I would want them to be boys. Girls are a little overrated."

Sakura's green eyes widen in surprise. "I see."

"What about you?" Miyaya asks, staring down at her. "Have you and your husband spoken about children yet?"

It was such a strange conversation to be having right now, especially since they were suppose to be talking about the village, but Sakura's entire reason for being there was to please Miyaya, and if this was what she wanted to talk about, Sakura was going to do anything she could to help get them into the Uzumaki matriarch's good favor.

Sakura tries to keep her voice calm. "Very briefly," Sakura admits. "I have been giving it a bit more thought," she says slowly, casting Madara a sideway glance to see him staring at her curiously. "I would like to have children and while I'm not particular about whether they are boys or girls, I would love to be able to live up to the expectations of my mama's before me. My mama, Dallia, and Madara's mama, Mizuho."

Izuna's expression quirks. This is probably the first time in a long time that he has heard his mother's name. Madara told her his mother's name a few days prior, while she was thinking about their conversation about her. Mizuho was such a pretty name and when Madara had said it, there was such love and pride in his voice and on his face, she felt some kind of instant connection to the woman, somehow.

Miyaya tilts her head a bit, curiously. "Mizuho," she says, looking over at Madara, "that is a beautiful name."

Madara bows his head a bit. "Thank you, my lady."

"Thank you," Izuna says, very softly.

"It's good that you want to be a good mother," Miyaya says, turning back toward Sakura. "I'm happy to hear it. But what about this village? What is your plans for it?"

"My brothers and husband-" Sakura starts but is cut off by Miyaya's hand being held up in her face.

"No, Sakura," Miyaya says simply. "I will hear what they wish to do from them. What I asked was what is your plans for this village. What do you hope to see come of it?"

Sakura hesitates. She has a lot of hopes for this village, but all of them align neatly with her brothers' and husband's wishes. She hadn't given a lot of thought to exactly her dreams and how they could possibly differ from theirs. Even if it didn't, she hadn't really voiced it in her own words before. Merely what her brothers and husband thought.

"I..." she hesitates, feeling everyone's eyes on her. All of the Uzumaki's eyes are dark and judging, taking in everything she's saying and judging her worth solely based on that. She didn't know how to say what she thought, simply because she never gave it the consideration that maybe it deserved. Now that she's under the judgmental eyes of everyone around them, she's worried that she's going to say the wrong thing or give the wrong impression and everything that they have all been working so hard for will be ruined in just minutes.

Sakura really didn't want that on her shoulders, but she knew she couldn't say nothing. She just had to be honest, hoping that it really was still the best quality to have.

"I never gave it much personal thought," Sakura says and immediately knows that was the wrong thing to say. The Uzumaki women begin to look at one another seemingly greatly displeased. Miyaya's facial expression doesn't shift in the slightest but the gleam in her eye did. It darkened.

Hoping to somehow salvage this, she continues, "I never gave it much thought because I liked the idea my husband and all three of my brothers' had. I like that we will all be able to live in harmony with one another. I like that we will be a united force and I like that we will all be one big family that will be able to grow and prosper together, rather than be restrained by war."

Sakura has to stop herself from kneading her hands together in nervousness. "But what I want, personally, is to be strong. My dream doesn't have be extravagant or different form my husband and brothers to be important," Sakura says, rolling her shoulders back and narrowing her eyes. "I want their dream to come true. I want this village to be strong. I want all of us to be unified. I want everyone to have every opportunity allowed to them to be allowed to all of the others. I want to wake up every morning to know that I am part of something magnificent. I want my brothers and my husband's dream to come true not because I am a doting wife and baby sister, but because I believe in them.

"I believe in their dream as if it is my own. I hope this village comes out a tenth of how they wish it to be, because then I would know for absolute certain that this village, Konohagakure no Sato, is a wonderful, harmonious and beautiful place to live, raise my children, be with my brothers and be a loving wife to my husband. I already feel that way," Sakura says, staring up into Miyaya's eyes. "My hope is for one day, everyone feels the same way too. That everyone will want to live here because it is a good place to live. My hope may be the same as the men in my life, but it still my own."

Miyaya stares down at her with the darkest, thickest lashes she has ever seen hooded over red eyes. Sakura is almost certain the woman is going to turn on her heel and walk away from Konoha, beautiful red hair swinging and her entourage following happily behind her. After a few seconds of baited silence, Sakura's lungs hurting from holding her breath, Miyaya smiles and leans close.

"Good answer," she says simply and Sakura, along with all of her fellows in Konoha, take a deep sigh of relief.

"People believe that because we are matriarchal clan that we despise men," Miyaya says simply, waving her hand around dismissively. "That is untrue. They believe that we do, and so they sprout things about women superiority and think that is how they win our favor. It is not. Stand true to your beliefs because they are yours. Even if they hold similarities to others." Miyaya smiles down at Sakura, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I like you, Sakura Uchiha."

Sakura could have cried. Sakura's almost certain she blacked out there for a second. She's not sure what all she said, and is pretty sure most of it is bullshit she just made up on the spot to help solidify her reasoning - even though they aren't wrong - she just hopes that she's not asked to repeat herself. She's not sure she will be able to.

But so long as she is on the good side of the Uzumaki clan leader, that's all she can ask for. A good impression can lend a great hand.

"Thank you, my lady," Sakura finally says, bowing after perhaps too long of a pause. Miyaya doesn't appear to have noticed, or doesn't care if she did, for she turns to Hashirama.

"Let us get out of this dreadful heat, Hashirama, and talk about your plans for this village, shall we?" She asks, flippantly.

Hashirama bows his head. "Yes, my lady, this way." As they turn to leave, he offers Sakura an impressed smile and a wink to show that he approved and was proud of her.

 

The majority of the Uzumaki entourage waited outside the meeting room while a few advisers went in with Miyaya to speak with the clan leaders, Tobirama, Izuna and Sakura about Konoha. Hashirama and Madara explained the way that the village was going to be formatted. It's structure of command. There was going to be a leader: the Hokage. There was to be a series of advisors, elders that held great wisdom and knowledge and was trusted by the Hokage to keep them on the right path for Konoha.

There was going to be a council of clan leaders that would be able to speak directly with the Hokage and explain issues going on within their families or with other families that simply couldn't be decided upon by the two fairly. They would also act as advisors on the ground level, offering up input to the Hokage from all walks of life.

Hashirama made it very clear, though. The elders and the council was to be advisors only. They held no actual power within the government, The Hokage's word was law. Just like a clan leader. All of the other leaders in the room; Akimichi, Shimura, Sarutobi, agreed to it as well. They would put their hands in the fate of the Hokage, so long as it didn't infringe on the laws that protected their statuses as clans.

All of them wanted this to work and they knew that some sacrifices had to be made. Everyone couldn't be their own boss anymore. There had to be order, and structure, for an ideal like this to survive.

The Uzumaki actually have a very close lifestyle to the one that Sakura's family is trying to forge. But instead of it being a collection of clans all mashed together into one village, it was one giant clan that assimilated others into itself. Anyone was welcome to join the Uzumaki, if they could find them. According to Tobirama, the Uzumaki have a village somewhere off the coast called Uzushiogakura no Sato. The village hidden in whirlpools.

It's on an island in the middle of hundreds of deadly whirlpools with a population of thousands of people that live there. All people born as Uzumaki or have joined the family years prior. They are quite large, but very reclusive, keeping only to themselves. They are also very talented in their swordsmanship, seals and weapons crafting and sell such trade to make a great profit. They are a very wealthy family and would be an indispensable ally, backer and friend.

Konoha needed them, if it was going to survive.

Miyaya listened patiently while Madara and Hashirama spoke, allowing them to explain in great depth about their plans before asking any questions she may have had. None of her advisors spoke to anyone but her, making to softly whisper in her ear before pulling back. Most of the time, it was as if she didn't hear them, never outwardly reacting, but Sakura suspected some of her questions to have been those of her advisors.

Once they were finished, Miyaya finally asks, "What is it that you are willing to offer the Uzumaki for this financial backing?"

"An assimilation of ideas and culture," Hashirama responds easily. "We would share knowledge and trade and ultimately pay the Uzumaki back what we owe you."

Miyaya stares at him curiously for a moment. "How about something better?" She says, flippantly.

Hashirama blinks in surprise. "Better? Like what?"

"We will back your village, it sounds promising," Miyaya says simply. Sakura's stomach jumps and she has to curl her hands into fists in order not to squeal in excitement. The bite of her nails into her palm is a sufficient distraction.

"And what is it that you would like in return then, if not money?" Hashirama asks, voice smooth.

Miyaya smiles, keeping her red eyes locked onto his dark brown ones. "I want you to marry one of my sisters."


	18. Demon

Sakura actually chokes on air. She's sure that she's not the only one. It's safe to assume that everyone was a little shocked by her words. The Uzumaki clan leader is a very strong force, even if they wanted to deny her, it's impossible. Not only do they need the Uzumaki's money, but their overall support as well.

But... but to marry one of her sisters to Hashirama? Sakura wasn't sure how she felt about that. She knew that this was just how things worked, but it still felt strange somehow. Sakura was so used to having her brothers there by her side all the time, the thought that there would now be someone else in their lives - or at least Hashirama's life since Tobirama seems adamant about dying alone - other than her that meant everything to them, was strange.

And perhaps selfish of her. She knew it was good for the clans and the village to get the support of the Uzumaki and the clan leader isn't asking for anything they can't actually offer, but it just didn't settle well with her. Maybe she's protective of her brothers, especially Hashirama as he is the more sensitive of the two, but also because he's the more appeasing. If it got support to his dream, family and village, Hashirama wouldn't bat an eyelash at sacrificing his own personal happiness, because to him, the happiness of others equates to his own.

To him, they are one and the same. So long as the village is doing well and those he loves are happy, personal fulfillment comes last. Hashirama will smile and act happy, and make his wife happy however he can, but Sakura's terrified that Hashirama won't actually be happy. She knows that the worst is probably still to come, having to really get this village off the ground, so worrying about his home life with a wife that might not even be nice to him, terrifies Sakura.

How crazy is that? Sakura's eldest brother is probably the most powerful shinobi she has ever met, yet she's worried that his wife won't be nice to him. She must be crazy!

But she's still scared. Scared enough to have a horrible enough look on her face that Uzumaki clan leader blatantly saw.

"You disagree?" Miyaya says, delicate, perfect eyebrow quirked up. If Tobirama turned to look at her any faster, his neck would have snapped.

Sakura flinches at her brother's actions. She feels her mouth dry out and block of sand firmly lodge itself into her throat. She licks her lips a few times, trying to wet her mouth a bit with little avail. She shakes her head slowly. "No, my lady..."

Miyaya waves her hand around slowly, her rings and gems catching the light, casting a series of glittering lights across the room a bit. "That's not what it looks like to me. I can honestly say I have never seen someone's face actually lose all of the color before. Do you believe Hashirama marrying one of my sisters would be so terrible?"

Sakura briskly shakes her head. She can't believe her baby face has betrayed her yet again. Note to self, baby faces work on spineless older brothers, not on matriarchs of cousin clans.

"No, my lady..." Sakura says, shaking her head. Miyaya stares back at her with narrowing eyes, like Sakura has insulted her. Quickly backtracking, trying to save this budding partnership, she says, "It isn't you, or your sisters, my lady. I would be unhappy if it were any woman."

"Sakura," Hashirama starts but Miyaya silences him with a crisp wave of her hand. Madara looks between them, studying everyone's body language to try and read between the lines.

"Why is that? Afraid my sisters won't be kind?" Miyaya asks, a hint of amusement in her eyes at her own words. Her sisters, lining the walls behind her, bow their heads. There is the faint sound of laughter from a few of them.

"Yes," Sakura says honestly. Miyaya pauses, red eyes locking onto her face. "But as I said, it's with any woman." Sakura cups her hands together on her lap, unable to look at anyone but Miyaya. She can feel the eyes of her family and fellow clan leaders on her. "My brother is very kind, my lady. He will do his absolute best to make any of your sisters happy, because that is the type of person he is. He will love and cherish her, but he won't do it for himself. He won't ever say anything or show if one of your sisters is unkind to him. Especially since you are funding this village for us, he won't ever let it show he's unhappy." Sakura closes her eyes, feeling tears well up.

The room is silent, no one says anything. Sakura presses the heel of her palms into her eyes for a moment, forcing the tears away before looking up at Miyaya, begging with her eyes for the older woman to understand, but only receiving a stony expression in return.

"My brother loved a strange little girl who had nothing to offer him or his family. Loved her as if she was truly born of the same womb as him," Sakura says softly, eyebrows pulling together tightly. "My brother will treat any of your sisters with the upmost love and care he can, but he deserves to be loved just as deeply in return and I'm scared he won't get that. I'm sorry, my lady. I'm terribly sorry if I insulted you or any of your sisters, but..." Sakura rolls her shoulders back and looks up into Miyaya's eyes. "But he's my big brother, not of blood, but love. I will protect him however I can. Him, and Tobi. Because boys need protecting too."

The room is dead silent and Sakura knows that she has ruined this entire thing for her brothers and husband. They desperately needed the Uzumaki's help in getting their village off the ground and Sakura was one of the few people they needed to help solidify the relationship and she's the one who ruined it for them. But she can't ignore how she feels. Hashirama would, and she loves how selfless he is, but Sakura won't allow him to.

"My husband is my big brother's best friend," Sakura says, looking over at her husband next to her, seeing him stare down at her with large, dark eyes. "I was told because of an injury I sustained that I would never be able to marry a man of prominence. That I wouldn't be able to be with my brothers anymore after I was married off because it would probably be to a low-level feudal lord of a province no one has ever heard of. My big brother cried for me," Sakura says, looking over at Miyaya. "Cried because he was terrified he would have to send me away to someone who wouldn't treat me well or love me like he felt I deserved to be loved.

"I liked Madara before we married, I knew he was kind, but Hashirama was still scared, even of his own best friend." Sakura closes her eyes, smiling faintly. "My brother only wants me to be happy. And Tobi too. So when I married Madara, it wasn't because of love for him, but for my brother," Sakura admits. "I am so fortunate to be able to still be with my brothers, while having a gentle and loving husband. I did not love him when we married the way that I do now. We both married because of our love for others. I love Madara now. Love him as my husband, my friend and one day, the father of my children. I will do whatever I can to love and care for him and his family because they were the second family to love and accept me. Hashirama deserves only the very best."

Miyaya stares back at her, taking a moment to think about what Sakura said with the most stony expression that she has ever seen on another person. Sakura has absolutely no idea what is going on inside her head. Sakura can see, in her mind's eye, the woman just standing up without a word and walking out of the building, the village, and their lives forever.

Everyone has taken their eyes off of Sakura and moved to Miyaya. All of the sisters are staring at the back of Miyaya's head, all of the elders are sharing half glances with one another, some leaning in to whisper to one another but none speaking to her. Miyaya's beautiful face doesn't shift in the slightest, but her eyes slowly drag over to Hashirama's face. He looks conflicted. He's upset by her words, but he doesn't want to call her a liar or be angry at her for worrying about his feelings.

"Hashirama," Miyaya says, making dark eyes shoot up to her face.

"My lady?"

"I like her," Miyaya says, smiling smoothly. "That is true love. I doubt I would have been so bold about one of my own sisters if all of our positions are reversed." She looks over at Sakura, "And, to be honest, your fears are founded. My sisters can be bitches." The girls behind Miyaya jerk in surprise, protests written across some of their faces but Miyaya holds her hand up to stop them from speaking. She seems amused. "When I proposed this, I thought that Hashirama would be able to straighten the one I chose out, but you have offered me an interesting insight I hadn't taken into account."

"I did?" Sakura gasps.

Miyaya grins back at her, visibly pleased. "Yes. So, I'll tell you what, the deal still stands. We will fund the village if Hashirama marries one of my sisters, but I'll give you this, Sakura," her red eyes gleams, "you can choose which sister. You have until the end of next month, when we leave, to be able to get to know my sisters and pick which one will wed Hashirama. Sound good?"

Sakura looks over at Hashirama, feeling a different sort of pressure on her shoulders now. Hashirama smiles back at her faintly. "I picked who you married, it's only right that you pick for me. I'm sure whomever she is, she will be wonderful."

"So it's agreed upon, then," Miyaya says, grinning at Hashirama, who nods in affirmation before Sakura can even protest. "Excellent," Miyaya says, pleased. She stands up. "So, who's going to show me around so I can see my investment?"

 

Sakura felt like a stalker. An actual stalker. And she wasn't alone. She enlisted the help of Koharu, Kikiyo and Momo to help her be the crazy stalker that she's becoming. Together, the four of them have been sneaking around, watching Miyaya's younger sisters. All seven of them. Sakura knew that she was going to need some help because two months wasn't enough time to be able to get to know seven people enough to know whether they would treat Sakura's big brother kindly or not.

The girls seemed happy to help, and Sakura couldn't be more thankful. She loved her big brothers and only wanted the best for all three of them. Hashirama, being the very first to accept her and love her, holds a very special place in her heart. Tobirama was cold and it was difficult for him to let others in, but Hashirama was kind and loving from the first moment they met. She knew that Hashirama would need her more than Tobirama did, but that didn't mean she loved Tobirama any less. He was just a hell of a lot less trusting than Sakura was about her heart.

Sakura and her band of stalky friends have been stealthily - or at least, Kikiyo has been - gathering information about the seven girls over the last three days. They are all beautiful with red hair and eyes, dressed meticulously with wonderful hairstyles. They are all prim and proper ladies, not like Sakura, and give off the aura of a respectable woman. From oldest to youngest.

Mizuni. She has, by far, the most accessories on, going so far as having them intricately woven into her hair and clothes for all the outfits she wears. She expects to be treated a certain way and doesn't accept anything other that that. Sakura didn't think that she was unkind to anyone, but she made it seem like it would be hard for people to approach her if they needed to.

Mana. She turned Sakura away from her right away. From the get-go, Sakura watched her walk around their village, face hidden half behind a fan, looking around disinterested in what she saw. Sakura knew that the village was a little rough, but she was proud of it so far, it was still getting onto it's feet and she felt that Mana wasn't giving it the chance that the Senju Lady should.

Miko. She's by far the most likable to Sakura. She's goofy and happy. She's very friendly and easily approachable. She's not shy and is willing to walk up to just about anyone to strike up a conversation. Sakura really likes her.

Metsuna. She's very dreamy. She stares out over the skyline or up at the stars, like she's thinking about something far beyond them. Perhaps someone back home that she's yearning for. Sakura likes her. She's kind and calm, but doesn't seem like she's all there. Almost like she' biding her time until she can return home or be chosen to be married to Hashirama. She seems outwardly indifferent.

Mihara. She's nice, calm, but there is something off about her. She seems very... bland. Or like she's trying to appear that way. She doesn't really interact with people aside from her clansmen, but doesn't turn away people from approaching her, but when spoken to about things regarding her opinion, she's very vague about what she thinks.

Mito. She is quiet. The quietest of all the sisters. She's very easy going, but there is a prominent look on her face that is maybe a bit... stiff? She's not unkind and will speak to people who speak to her, but there is a look on her face that makes it seem like she's not interested in anything they say.

Miriyo. A brat. Sakura knows a spoiled brat when she sees one, having been one herself. Miriyo has done nothing but look down on all of them and whisper snide comments to people from her entourage, not caring who was listening. She wasn't blatantly loud about it, but it's still grossly disrespectful.

"I'm not a fan of most of them," Kikiyo says, crossing her arms over her chest after they all meet up again to discuss what they've learned. "I mean, Mito, Mihara, Metsuna, Miko and Mizuni aren't too bad, but Mizuni is definitely not going to fit in here. This is all about sacrifice and we don't tend to glamour it up like she seems to be used to."

Momo nods, giving a little gesture toward Kikiyo. "I agree with Kikiyo. I fear she won't be able to adjust to our more humble lifestyle." She pushes a strand of long, dark brown hair back up into her bun, only for it to fall back to her shoulder.

Koharu steps behind Momo and pulls her hair down and combs her fingers through the long brown locks. Momo smiles a bit at the kind ministrations, bending her knees a bit so that the shorter girl would be able to have good access to her hair and tilts her head back.

"I really like Miko," Koharu says, pulling Momo's pretty hair up and tying it into place, making sure the hair is smooth before stepping back. "She's really nice and funny."

"True," Kikiyo says, leaning on one hip. "But, she isn't exactly 'lady' material. She doesn't know how to stay in one place for too long."

"She could grow out of that," Momo says, smiling sweetly at Koharu and mouthing her thanks before turning back to Kikiyo. "She would just need a bit of time, I think."

"Don't Uzumaki have prolonged lives?" Kikiyo asks.

"Yes," Momo says, brown eyes wide.

Kikiyo gives her a level stare. "If it's childishness that makes her like that, then maybe, but waiting for her to grow out of it might take a long time. And if it's a character trait, then it's something she might never grow out of."

"I was never very lady-like," Sakura reminds the black haired Uchiha.

Kikiyo considers that for a moment before looking over at Sakura. "Not when you started, sure. But, there was always something very... different about you, my lady. You have a very old soul, I think. The eyes are very important to Uchiha, they teach us much about people. We could see the wisdom in your eyes. As childish as you were, there was still something about you that was different."

Sakura wasn't too sure about that, but wasn't sure how to dispute it, so she lets it go. Sakura thinks that there is much about her that is unappealing for a woman in her position, but she isn't going to fight Kikiyo on it. She's just going to have to work harder in order to be more of the person that her friend seems to think that she is.

"We will just have to keep an eye on all of them," Koharu says slowly, looking up at Sakura with multi-colored eyes. "Maybe they will surprise us." She smiles hopefully. Momo nods in agreement but Kikiyo doesn't seem too enthusiastic about it. It may not be for her clan, but she's still going to have to deal with whomever they decide.

Sakura is so grateful for her friends. Momo and Koharu do random, ever changing things throughout the day from assisting the families to running errands or learning how to control her abilities in Koharu's case, but Kikiyo is one of the few female warriors in the Uchiha clan and has a lot of different jobs around the village being one of the defenders. She runs patrols and look out along with other errands she would run for her family and still found time to be able to help her out. Sakura just loved these girls.

"Thank you for all of your help, girls," Sakura says, smiling kindly.

"No problem," Koharu says, hugging Sakura, who hugs her back tightly.

"Of course!" Momo says, grinning up at the slightly taller girl.

"Thanks for involving us," Kikiyo says, crossing her arms over her chest. "It means a lot to me that you care for our opinions."

"Of course," Sakura says, grinning at all three of the girls. "Thank you for everything!"

Momo smiles, but then looks behind her and bows her head. Koharu bows a moment after Kikiyo does. Sakura turns around to see Tobirama walking up to them, glancing over at the girls.

"No need for that." The girls straighten up. "Sakura, I need to speak with you. Are you free?"

Sakura looks over at her friends. "Thank you, girls. We can pick this up again later, yes?" Three heads bob up and down in affirmation. "Thanks!" Taking that as their cue to go, they split up. Sakura turns back toward her brother. "Aniki?"

"Sakura," Tobirama says, once the girls are gone, "was I interrupting?"

Sakura shakes her head. "No, we just finished. What is it?"

"Hashirama spoke with Lady Miyaya about the man in the forest and she wanted to go out and see it, but now she's asking to see you there."

Sakura feels the color drain from her face. She starts kneading her hands in front of her, anxiously. She's been avoiding that place since Hashirama ordered that they do so. Well, even if he didn't, she wanted nothing to do with it. They shouldn't be toying with things that they don't understand. He is death and the more time they can spend away from him, the better. Why would anyone want to go back?

"Hashirama didn't want to bring you there, but Miyaya insisted speaking to you there," Tobirama says, frowning. "I happen to be of mixed feelings. I don't want you to go back there because of how much it upset you, but you had a feeling about it that no one else can explain, like always. It might be somehow connected to your past. We can't ignore learning more about you and where you come from."

Sakura's hands start shaking a bit, but she can't let it take over her entire body. Or, at least, she's trying to not let it, but she doesn't know if she's doing a very good job of it.

"I don't want to go," Sakura whispers, looking up at Tobirama with large, watery green eyes.

"I know," Tobirama says. "I'm sorry. It's part of the reason that he asked the Uzumaki to come. We need their financial report, but they are also one of the oldest clans we know and their expertise in seals has given us much to ask of them, including the seal that captured Hashirama some time back. We need much from them. More than just money." He offers his arm for Sakura to take and for the first time in her life, Sakura didn't want to take it. But she did.

 

"Thank you for coming, Sakura," Hashirama says, as soon as Tobirama and Sakura emerge from the break in the trees to her husband, brothers, Miyaya and her elders all standing around the body shaped dead spot in the forest floor that has expanded a bit killing more and more of the grass around it. It's a bit unnerving to be back here again. Her stomach has plummeted into her feet. If Sakura had the choice, she would never go back to this place every again, for as long as she lives, but she can't say no. It's a stroke of luck that all of her blunders haven't insulted the Uzumaki.

She can't afford to upset them anymore than they have to already be.

"Hashirama told me about this place," Miyaya says as Sakura steps away from Tobirama and links her arm through her husband's. Miyaya stands with the other Uzumaki on the other side of the carnage from them. Sakura grips onto Madara's arm tightly, barely able to bring herself to look down at the dead grass marks just in front of them. "How do you explain who did this?"

"He is death," Sakura whispers softly, as if talking too loudly will bring him to them. "He is where life goes to die."

The elders look between one another, as if they don't agree with her. Sakura doesn't care what they think, she knows that is what he is and they are crazy for wanting to stand around this place having a conversation like the grass isn't dead and his presence isn't somehow still lingering.

"I'm curious as to how something could have done this," Miyaya says. "I know that you don't remember your time before coming to the Senju, but I'm curious as to how you know about this."

Sakura shakes her head. "I don't know it here," she points to her head, "but here," she points at her heart. "He is death and will consume all that he comes across. He is forever hungry and will devour the world if given the chance."

"But how do you know that?" One of the elders asks.

Sakura doesn't have an answer for him. She simply doesn't know how she knows these things. She just does. Just another one of those moments where she knows something but doesn't know how she knows it or how to convince others that she's somehow right about whatever it is. She's so fortunate to have the trust of Tobirama and Hashirama so wholely and it seems like Madara and Izuna are starting to believe her too, which she appreciates. But they are really the only ones. Even most people from the Senju clan still think that there is something wrong with her or that she's not all there.

Sakura knows that's her own fault for being so unbelievably lazy, but she honestly loves them regardless of what they think. The same is starting to be able to be said about the Uchiha. This is starting to get really unbelievable.

"I just do," Sakura says softly, not knowing how else to say it.

The elder didn't appear pleased with that vague explanation and opens his mouth, about to protest, when Hashirama cuts him off, respectfully, "My baby sister is able to just... know things, Uzumaki-sama. It's hard to explain it, but trust me, we haven't come across a moment where she is so certain of something and has been wrong." That was a tall praise from Hashirama with a heavy weight behind it.

"How do you know this man that once lay here?" Miyaya asks, folding her hands neatly in front of her. She's a splash of vibrancy and light standing in a patch of dead grass. Even though it's been a few weeks - months? - since this occurred, yet the grass hasn't even started to grow over again. Like it can't. He may be gone, but his presence remains.

Sakura stares down at the man shaped dirt patch amongst the dead foliage. She can feel an inch at the back of her head. A twinge in her brain that she knows has to be a memory of something lurking beneath the fog that overtakes her mind whenever she thinks about the past. Beyond the time she met her brothers and they accepted her into their family.

The fear of this strange death-bringer and the fear of fire. The feeling of it licking across her toes. Peeling her skin back and turning her toenails crispy. The smell of brunt flesh and hair. The searing pain. The screams. Terrible, heart wrenching screams-

Sakura shivers, forcing the feeling away. She can't think about that now.

She doesn't know how she knows. She can't explain it. She never can, but she knew, somehow, that she was telling the truth of what she said when it spilled out of her mouth.

She looks into Miyaya's eyes and says, softly, "I've met him before."

As soon as Sakura admitted that, she felt it. The poison rolling down her spine. The fear clawing at the back of her head. It was the same, terrifying feeling that she got the moment she realized what the man in the forest was. That horrible, painful realization that they were all going to die. It hits her full force once more.

Sakura's eyes widen as she tenses up, looking down at the patch of dirt in the shape of a man right in front of her. She's at a different angle this time than she was last time. She's standing by his feet now rather than his head. Miyaya is standing by his head. Sakura feels her entire body go rigid. Normally people wouldn't notice the small shift in her demeanor because of how small it was, but all of these people are well trained to see the smallest move from all of them.

Sakura feels a burning sensation at her back and she immediately throws herself at Madara, right next to her, using her weight to knock him off his feet in surprise.

"Whoa!" Madara lets out a surprised noise, barely able to catch Sakura when she lands on top of him. Sakura looks over her shoulder right as something materializes from nothing just inches behind where she was, and lands back on the dirt patch. The black death area around it expands significantly, by two or three feet in all directions. The Uzumaki elders quickly push back, away from the man, but Miyaya doesn't move. She stares down at the man with a frown on her pretty lips as he lays there unmoving for a moment, before fading away into nothing once more.

"What was that?" one of the elders asked, exasperated.

Miyaya raises her eyes to look at Sakura, a hard crease between those red orbs. Madara holds Sakura close, protectively, eyeing the patch with deep mistrust as everyone gives it a wide berth.

"That thing... that isn't the shinigami," Miyaya says.

"You know what that thing was?" Izuna asks, incredulously. His dark eyes are blown wide in surprise and he's armed, ready to fight for their lives.

Miyaya nods. "That is a demon."


	19. Go On

"A demon?" Sakura whispers, the word sounding foreign on her lips. She grabs onto Madara's hand tightly, wearily. She felt bad for knocking him down, but he got back up easily enough.

Miyayoi nods, looking down at the darkened patch of grass, her eyebrows pulled together tightly with an intense look on her face. "Yes, whatever this demon is exactly, its trapped somewhere between our world and its own."

"What does that mean?" Tobirama asks, glancing down at the man shaped death patch before drawing red eyes back up to Miyayoi. "A demon?"

"In our world there is physical monstrosities of chakra, creatures so unbelievably powerful with a will of their own," Miyayoi says, crossing her arms over her chest. "These creatures we called Tailed Beasts. Our collective history as both humans and shinobi goes all the way back to the Sage of Six Paths. He did battle against an even larger, more powerful monster and broke it up into the Tailed Beasts of today, as our legends tell us, but this thing is not one of those creatures. This is a demon that came from a different dimension."

Sakura shakes her head in disbelief, everyone knew the story of the Sage of Six Paths, the father of chakra. It's all a bit hazy on how the Tailed Beasts came to be, just that they appeared around the same time as him. Sakura remembers hearing the story from Hashirama. There is a lot of speculation, but the Senju clan believes that they - like all clans - came from the Sage. The Uchiha too, at least Hashirama believed that part of the story, and that is why their fates are intertwined with one another so deeply.

The Beasts appeared alongside the Sage at the height of his popularity and roamed the world for many years doing as they liked. Cause a bit of mischief here and there, maybe, but mostly they were something scary in stories. They only really became a problem after the Sage grew old and died. Then, there was nothing - no one - powerful enough to keep them in check so they began to cause a major ruckus around the five great nations before they were what they are today.

It took many years, but people found ways of dealing with them. Mostly learning where they are hidden and avoiding it at all costs. The Tailed Beasts eventually grew tired with the world and found little holes to live in. They remained there, usually, without disturbing the world around them unless provoked otherwise. To Sakura, who understands that they are real, she has never seen one so this is a new experience.

This wasn't one of the Tailed Beasts, but it was a demon.

This is just their own opinions, nothing concrete. Some - probably all - of the clan families believe that they are more important than others, but it all means the same thing. Demons are real - tailed beasts, actually - and part of their world, but this is something else entirely. Something that they aren't necessarily ready for. Who is prepared to fight some sort of demon? Sakura certainly isn't, she knows that for sure.

"How do you know that?" Tobirama asks, red eyes locked onto the Uzumaki clan leader.

"It didn't have any tails," Izuna says, shaking his head at Tobirama. "I thought you were suppose to be a genius."

Tobirama glares at him, lips pressed into a straight line. "No, I meant about it being a demon not a tailed beast." He looks over at Miyayoi.

"The Uzumaki are very spiritual people," Miyayoi says. "Our family has many sealing arts that allow us to do some things that you wouldn't even begin to imagine," she says, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Her face falls neutral again. "This is a demon of some sort, and it's powerful."

Wearily, Tobirama asks, "How do you reckon?"

Miyayoi looks between the dead patch of grass where the demon's essence remains to Tobirama. "It's growing more and more powerful. It's not all the way here. Part of it isn't in our physical world. But the fact that it's able to manifest itself for short periods of time in a realm like our own which is protected by the Tailed Beasts. Either it's been so slowly growing over many years that the Tailed Beasts haven't noticed, or that it's so powerful that they can't stop it from coming through." She doesn't appear as though she believes that latter of the two suggestions she offered them.

"What's this about the Tailed Beasts?" Hashirama asks, eyebrows pulling together tightly. This conversation wasn't going in one steady direction.

"We believe that where ever the Tailed Beasts come from, the Sage left them here to protect us from unnatural things in our world. Such as demons," Miyayoi says. "It's something that my people have believed for as long as we have been passing down stories. Is it true? I don't know. Do I put stock in it? No, not really." She brings her arms up and crosses them slowly, looking contemplatively down at the demon. "It's not strong enough now, but it will be getting stronger."

"So what do we do?" Madara asks. He looks down at Sakura for a moment, dark eyes darkening in anger. A protective, possessive anger. That demon was so close to touching both of them, if Sakura hadn't thrown them out of the way. It was dangerous. He didn't like it.

Miyayoi sighs. "I don't know, for now. But, I will do some research and get back to you. At the moment, it's not strong enough to be in our world for very long, but we will have to keep a close eye on it." She looks down at the human shaped grass patch with a critical eye before turning away and walking toward the village without another word. The Uzumaki Elders are quick to follow her, mumbling quietly to one another in quiet contemplation, their collective brilliance shining in their eyes as they pass the dirt patch.

They are intrigued. And worried.

"Well," Izuna says, after the last of the elders colorful robes disappeared into the thicket, "that was a shit ton of not helpful."

"Izuna," Madara snarls, obviously not in the mood for jokes.

"No," Hashirama quietly disagrees, looking down at the dead patch. "I think it was more than we had before. We didn't get to ask where it came from or why she thought it was here, but if she knew she probably would have offered the information, so I think it's safe to assume that she doesn't know or won't speculate at the moment."

"Then we had more than before," Tobirama says slowly, eyebrows pulling together tightly, "but not as much as we would have liked."

Hashirama sighs, his entire body drooping at the action. "Unfortunately, yes. We will just have to hope that Lady Miyayoi will be able to uncover something in her research before this problem escalates beyond control."

And on that foreboding thought, they leave the forest. But not before Hashirama leaves a wood clone behind to watch the patch of grass, and the emanating threat that exudes from it.

 

"Are you alright?"

Sakura perks up from where she is sitting by her bedroom window. She has been sitting there for a long time. It was light out the last time she registered what was going on, now it's late into the night. Her skin on her face and hands have long since chilled in the cooling night. Winter was coming quickly. The days are growing shorter as the nights are growing longer. They are going to have to build covers for the windows to try and keep the cool out soon enough.

"I'm okay," Sakura says, turning away from the window and the cold air gently filtering in.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Madara asks, closing the door to their bedroom slowly. He slowly removes his shiori, hanging it up on the wall. His day has been long and hard and obviously having worn him down. Sakura is honestly surprised that she was still awake. She was usually very early to bed and early to rise - something her brothers did that rubbed off on her.

She didn't get up and train bright and early like they did, but she did wonder about or follow them around to watch them. Either way, she's surprised that she was still awake. Maybe it's because she's found that it is getting harder and harder for her to sleep without Madara, especially in the coming winter where the nights are colder and Madara is like a wonderful heater that seems all too content to wrap around her and protect her from the cold. Madara's body temperature is so high that he seems content still to sleep without a shirt with relative comfort but she has to wonder how long that is going to last.

Quietly, honestly, Sakura says, "A long time."

Madara stares at her, contemplative of her words, before nodding slowly. "Are you ready for bed?"

Sakura nods, grabbing onto the window frame and pulling herself to her feet slowly. Her ankles, knees and hips all creak at the action, inactivity has stiffened her muscles. She reaches her hands above her head and stretches up onto her tip-toes as far as she can go, listening to the various cracks along her arms and legs and spine.

Sakura changes into a sleep kimono and crawls into bed with Madara, wrapping his arms around and sighing in content. He was just so warm, she could cuddle up to him without any shame. She'd like to say that she's surprised at herself, but she's not. Sakura has found herself to naturally be a very trusting individual. Moreso with her brothers than anyone else, but there is something special about Madara. He was always... different. She loved him. It was hard to tell at first, since her love for him wasn't too obvious, but she really does genuinely love him.

Everything about today has made Sakura painfully aware of her future. Her older brother is going to be married next month, the Uzumaki are going to back the village and get it onto it's feet, and their lives are moving forward. This... thing with the demon also makes Sakura think about her future. Death is looming over them, and she knows that wasn't the last that they saw of it, but she is also aware that she's not in a position to be able to do anything.

But it also makes her think about the opposite. Not of death, but of life. Madara and Sakura briefly spoke about both wanting kids, but not much more than that. She knew that she wanted kids, but wasn't sure exactly where Madara's head was in all of this. She spoke with Miyayoi about it, but didn't go in depth other than her wanting them. She wasn't particular about what the gender was. Boys were all Sakura knew, but it would be interesting if she could raise a girl.

So long as she was a good mother, that was all she cared about. She wanted her children to love her as she and her brothers and husband did with their mothers. She wanted them to love her.

Having children would be the only direct blood connection that Sakura would have. She loves her brothers and Senju family to death, but they aren't her blood. Maybe she will feel different holding something that has a piece of her inside of it. Maybe she won't. She's not sure.

"Madara..?" Sakura whispers into the quiet night.

Madara had been completely silent, she wonders if he has fallen asleep. She would feel bad about waking him up. It feels like Madara is hardly ever getting a good night's sleep, what little sleep he can get, would be cruel to tare away from him.

"Yes?" Madara asks, his voice even, like he was awake the entire time.

Sakura, who's head was resting on his shoulder, lifts to see his eyes closed as he lays on his back. The moonlight peaking into the room makes his lashes cast long shadows against his face. She lowers her head back to his shoulder and scoots closer, to absorb some of his warmth.

"You want kids, yes?"

Madara huffs, amused. "Yes. I do."

"What do you want?" Sakura asks, watching the moonlight cast shadows across his bare chest.

Madara hums quietly for a moment, giving it serious thought. "I don't mind. I'm not particular." His words were simple, but there was a strange lilt to his voice that made it seem like he did actually have a preference but didn't want to say it.

Curious, Sakura asks, "Are you sure?"

Madara sighs. "Caught me. I actually want..." he hesitates for a second. "I want a girl. At least one."

Sakura is honestly surprised. She somehow thought that he would be more interested in a boy, a real heir to his family. But, maybe he thinks that it is inevitable that he have a son and is more interested in having a daughter.

"A girl..." Sakura mumbles, lifting her head to look at Madara again. This time, his eyes are open and he's look at her, studying her face for any sign of what she's thinking. "Why a girl?"

Madara blinks slowly, moving his eyes from her face to the ceiling above them. He seems to deeply consider her words, trying to explain his reasonings for feeling the way he does. Sakura waits quietly, not wanting to force him into giving an answer that isn't entirely truthful. She wanted to know what he really thought. When it came to how things should be, Madara would speak up without an issue, but when it is more personal, about thoughts or feelings, it became much more of trying task to get something out of him.

Sakura respected that he wasn't a man of many words and didn't feel the need to talk about his feelings all the time, but it was nice to hear what was one his mind every once and a while, especially when he's so thoughtful about it. They've been married for a few months now and he's still surprising her with how he thinks. She was almost certain he would have said a son, yet he did not and she didn't expect that.

Madara was fascinating to her.

"I've always been surrounded by boys, my brothers," Madara says slowly. "I helped raise them. But I never had a sister. And, I'm just more interested in a father-daughter relationship." He lets out a long winded sigh, looking toward the window, but Sakura can see that the tip of his ear has turned red in embarrassment. He wasn't food at any of this, but he was still willing to open himself up to her.

Sakura honestly appreciates it.

Sakura leans up, reaching out with one hand, turning his chin toward her so that she can look down at his face. Her husband looks adorably bashful about his feelings, like he wished he shouldn't have said anything. Madara stares out the window for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts and settle his embarrassment before dragging his eyes over to her, looking bashful.

Sakura smiles, leaning down to kiss his lips chastely before pulling away. Short strands of pink hair that has slowly been growing out since the incident that she has been trying to really forget about, dangle in the space between them and Sakura can't help but appreciate how beautiful her husband was. The moonlight only serves to pronounce his beauty. Sakura knew her husband was handsome, but she could stare at him in moonlight forever. His eyes are darker than black, his skin is a snowy white and his hair is half black half gray where the moonlight settles.

He's beautiful.

"Why are you thinking about kids?" Madara asks, reaching up and pushing some of the strands of pink hair behind her ear so that they can stare at one another without the pink obstructions in the way.

"I was thinking more about the demon in the forest," Sakura says softly. "He is death, and makes me think about it. But also life."

Madara's peaceful look melts away, to stoic indifference. "You needn't worry about that thing. It's not going to hurt you." Sakura wished she could be that certain about the situation, but she did appreciate the strength he had.

Sakura smiles at him, thinly. "I am happy."

Madara looks curious at that. "You are? The family has been treating you good?"

Sakura nods. "The Uchiha are kind."

Madara blinks slowly, tiredly. "They are being welcoming? They are listening to you?"

Sakura nods again. "Everyone has been very kind. I love Kikiyo."

"You've bonded with her since the very beginning," Madara notes. He shifts on the ground a bit, wrapping an arm around her waist so that she doesn't pull away from him. Sakura smiles a bit at that, feeling the heat in her cheeks that she quickly forces away. He's her husband, he's going to touch her. She can't be all ooy-gooy over every little caress. It's not cute.

"I like Kikiyo's strength," Sakura says, trying to distract herself from the heat in her face.

Madara hums in agreement. "Kikiyo is a very strong individual. She's fierce and loyal. I trust her explicitly when she is with you. I know she will look after you and protect you with her life. She will protect your body, but also your emotions."

Sakura makes a noise of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Kikiyo is a very perceptive individual," Madara says, a touch of pride in his voice when talking about his cousin, "and she genuinely cares about people and tries hard to look after them. I know that she will be by your side. I trust her and I'm glad that you two hit it off."

Sakura smiles. "I really like her. She is a good friend." Madara hums again, softly.

"I'm happy to hear," Madqra says, adjusting his position one last time before his eyes slip closed and he relaxes fully, his breath all leaving his chest before evening out.

Sakura wanted to stay in this peaceful moment forever, but knew that Madara was tired, as he often is when he returns home for the night. He spends much of his days training, polishing his weapons and in meetings in regards to one thing or another. Barely any time is saved for himself. He must be exhausted. Maybe Sakura can pressure him into taking a bit of time for himself. It certainly wouldn't kill him.

Maybe she can get Izuna to help her.

And then Hashirama and Tobirama along with Izuna are all going to need some time for themselves. They must all be so tired.

Maybe Sakura can do something more to assist her brothers and husband. She's going to have to think about it. There has to be something.

Sakura settles her head back onto his shoulder and snuggles up to Madara's side, feeling his grip on her begin to relax as he starts to slip further and further to slumber, the burdens of the day weighing down on him.

"Goodnight," Sakura whispers, wrapping one arm over his midsection.

Madara mumbles something quietly, nothing coherent. Sakura closes her eyes and listens to the peaceful sounds of his gentle breathing until he falls asleep.

 

Sakura opens her eyes. Morning has just barely come to them. Madara is still sleeping in her arms, which is rare. She has always woke up early, but he's always been awake long before her. His days have always been much longer than her own. He must be letting himself sleep in a little bit. Sakura looks up at his face, seeing the sunlight now painting his pale skin a gentle sun kissed color. His impossibly long lashes swoosh across his high cheek bones as he dreams.

She's so envious. All of her brothers have the beautiful long lashes that she is positively envious of. She hopes that any of her children have more of their father's looks than her own. She has some pretty attributes, but there is something so beautiful about him. His family were blessed with good looks, as were the Senju, were she was not. She was pretty, but they were all beautiful.

Sakura looks down at Madara's chest and stomach. His body is strong and fit, but littered with scars from years and years of training and battle. Despite the scars, the discolorations and the roughness of certain parts of his skin due to healing, he was absolutely beautiful.

She must have run her finger over a particularly sensitive part of skin over his stomach, because his abs tighten as his stomach sinks in for a moment, trying to stop himself from laughing. Sakura pulls her fingers back a bit, looking up at Madara. His eyes are half opened and sparkling. There is a gentle look on his face. Not a smile, but a gentleness that settles over his person.

"Did I hurt you?" Sakura asks, green eyes wide.

"Tickles," Madara mumbles, his voice thick with sleep. He's blinking slowly, but appears to be becoming more and more aware.

Sakura's face breaks out into a smile. Happy that she didn't hurt him, she rests her head on his shoulder again and touches the spot on his abdominals. "What happened here? How did you get hurt?"

Madara looks down his body at the place she's touching, before lowering his head back onto his pillow. "I don't know. I'm not sure I remember. I've gotten plenty of injuries all my life, I don't really remember most of them." He brings his left arm up and puts it behind his head and adjusts the way he's laying into a more comfortable position.

That makes Sakura sad. She knows where almost every single scar on her body comes from. The one on her chest from healing Izuna. The one on her right knee from when she fell on a sharp rock when she was ten and scrapped it bad. The one on her left calf that she got when she was playing with her brothers kunai and dropped it on her leg and cut it up. And more.

But she knew them.

To not know where a lot of scars all over her body came from? It just makes her sad. She had to wonder if all of her brothers were in the same boat. To be covered in juries that they will never really remember where they all came from. It makes her so incredibly sad.

"I'm sorry," Sakura says softly, using her hand to cover the slightly discolored spot. "I'm so sorry that you got hurt."

"It wasn't your fault," Madara says easily. "Our families were in war. Injuries were to be expected."

"But that doesn't mean it's not wrong," Sakura says softly, looking sad. "I'm glad that the war is finally over. We can move beyond it and grow."

"I agree," Madara says. "I wouldn't have wanted to bring a child into this world knowing that they were going to have to go to war and die. My brothers were born into this wretched war and two of them died young. It's hard to imagine that any of this could been thought of as a good idea."

"War is wrong," Sakura says softly, resting her head on the curve of his shoulder. "No matter how you look at it. It's terrible that it went on for as long as it did. Too many people fell in such a pointless war..."

Madara hums, bringing his right arm up and around her shoulder, pulling her closer. "I agree. I think I've said before, but I knew it was going to end in my lifetime, but I didn't know it would end in peace. I thought it would end one of three ways. We killed the Senju, they killed us, or we destroyed each other. Peace wasn't an option as far as we were concerned."

"But it's here now," Sakura says softly, her smile returning.

"Yes," Madara breaths. "It is. Thankfully."

They settle into silence. Sakura stares out the window over Madara's body, just relishing in his warmth and protection. She always felt protected when she was with Madara. He's always been relaxing to her. Even when they were kids and first met, there was something about him that she just liked. There was a light in him, a goodness in him, that he carried with him even though his life was engulfed in darkness. He was young, but still surrounded by battle and death, yet he was still good.

Maybe, since forever, Sakura has always loved Madara. It's not something that is easy to explain. In her heart, there is a piece of him that seems like it could have always been there. Like he was meant just for her, and her for him. He has been nothing but understanding about all of the oddities that come with being associated with her, and has accepted all of them without hesitation. SHe's not sure she would be able to find someone else in the world who would do that.

Not that she would want someone else.

Sakura deeply loved him. She's not sure when it happened, or if the love truly was always there, but she loves him. He's comfortable and fits in her arms. He was everything that she wanted.

"Are you worried about Hashirama?" Madara asks after a long silence.

"I'm always worried about Hashirama-ani," Sakura says softly. "He is so loving, anyone could take advantage of him."

Madara hums, letting out a little sigh. "Well, yes. He's dumb enough to fall for just about anything, but Hashirama is smarter than you give him credit for. He knows how to care for himself, and he's self-sacrificing enough to sell himself for this village."

"Like you were willing to for your brother?" Sakura asks, lifting her head to look up at him. "When you agreed to marry me so that Hashirama would allow me to heal Izuna?" She elaborates in case he forgot.

Madara stares up at the ceiling, frowning. A crease forms between his eyes as he thinks about her words, he seemed to not appreciate them very much. Sakura's not sure what she said wrong, simply that whatever it is made him mad. Or at least, displeased.

"What's wrong?"

Madara shakes his head. "No, it's nothing." He closes his eyes for a moment, contemplating something before letting out a long winded sigh, pulling his left hand from behind his head and rubbing at his face, seemingly annoyed. "I... didn't marry you entirely for Izuna. I felt bad for the wound you caused and while I didn't know the entirety of what would happen to you because of it, I was grateful for what you did and..." He opens his eyes, looking down at her. "And... I can't imagine you with anyone else."

"Can't imagine?" Sakura asks, perplexed.

Madara frowns. "No, I don't want you to be with anyone else. No one would be good enough for you."

Sakura laughs. "You sound just like Hashirama-ani." She grins at him.

Madara rolls his eyes, probably not appreciating the fact that he was being compared to her big brother, who is both his best friend and his greatest annoyance. Sakura knew that their relationship was special. They understood each other in a way that no one else could. Sakura knew from long ago that both of them had a connection that separated them from everyone else. It wasn't something that they would say, but just something about the way they would speak with their eyes and just understand.

Sakura knew that there was something between them. She could just feel it. She has to trust that it's only a good thing. Their connection to one another is what helped them to end this war, Sakura fervently believes that.

"You're right," Madara says, sounding genuinely disgusted by it.

Sakura laughs again. She snuggles closer to him, wishing that they could spend all day like this. She was worried that she would have nightmares about the demon last night, but like in all cases since marrying him, Madara has managed to fend off the nightmares and keep her feeling safe with him. She hopes that she was a tenth of a relief to him that he was to her. He deserved it, especially since he was so wonderful.

"What's the plan for today?" Madara asks, letting out soft yawn, trying hard to keep it quiet. His lungs expand, pushing his ribs against his skin before he settles again, stretching his legs out, letting them crack before settling back in place.

"Stalk the Uzumaki girls to find out which will be nice to Hashirama and love both of our families," Sakura says, letting out a little groan. She wished that she could just lay in bed with him all day. "I'm going to recruit the girls to help me."

Madara smiles faintly, amused. "Have fun."

"It's not for pleasure," Sakura pouts.

"Then work hard," Madara amends, still amused.

Sakura grins, curling closer to him, not wanting to get up just yet. Not because she didn't want to make sure that her brother was in good hands, but because Madara was so comfortable and it's rare for her to wake up with him still there with her. She wanted to relish in this moment just a little bit longer. She wanted every single moment between them to last forever.

"Just a few more minutes?" Sakura whispers, not wanting to let him go.

Madara rolls onto his side, wrapping his arms around her rightly, seeming to feel the same. They curl around one another, and Sakura closes her eyes. If it's them and her brothers, somehow, Sakura feels that they will be able to stand up against anything that dares to threaten them. Sakura doesn't know how she knows - and does she ever? - but she knows that something is going to happen. Something is going to happen, she can feel it in her bones. Something is going to happen and she's going to need to be strong. They all will.

Someone is going to try to destroy them. Someone is going to try and destroy them, because that demon being here means that something absolutely terrible over the horizon. Something is going to tare them apart. Or try to. But she's not going to let them. She's not going to let whatever, or whomever, this terrible feeling is, to destroy them.

Even if it's family.


End file.
